Look what I found

UPDATE: Feb 3, 2012-DUE TO EVERYONE ON THE INTERNET BEING ALL “OH NO YOU DIDN’T!” KOMEN’s HANDEL SAID THEY WOULD FUND EXISTING GRANTS. BUT NOT THAT THEY WOULD CONTINUE TO FUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD.

A Huffpost commenter, Karmabug, said it best:

“I’m sorry, but all I can read is, “We were deeply shaken by the outpouring of support, and most importantly money, to Planned Parenthood and not us. We have reversed our decision for now so you may continue to send money to us and not them. With this money we will continue to exploit women with a serious disease and fund lots of pink things rather than actual research.”

—————————-

Personally, I think it’s ridiculous that we are still having this discussion, 100 years after Margaret Sanger started campaigning.

I don’t always speak out about abortion, but when I do, I Do It Loudly.

My friend, Pamela Grow, wrote an email and sent it out today. She talked about supporting Planned Parenthood.

She got some pretty snippy emails requesting to be taken off her list because of her position on Komen’s new public anti-choice stance. People said she should keep her personal and political views out of her newsletter.

To that I say, “You’re only saying that because you don’t agree with my politics and personal views. If you did, you wouldn’t say anything.”

What is the point of blogging if you can’t share your personal opinion? That’s the whole reason we started blogging, I think?

Let me tell you a secret.

My first story that I ever wrote, when I was 16 years old, was about a girl named Mazarine and her friend Tse Tse going on a roadtrip in a big convertible. And they were going to get Tse Tse an abortion. And then they did. And lived happily ever after. The end.

When I lived in Korea and my significant other wanted to have a debate about abortion and “play devil’s advocate” I got so upset that I broke down in tears. I just could not be with someone who wanted to debate a woman’s right to do what she wanted with her own body.

In high school, I went out with someone who was adopted, and they said they were anti-abortion because if their birth parents had believed in abortion, they wouldn’t be here. I could understand that. They still didn’t think that they had the right to tell any woman what to do with her body though. That takes a special kind of sickness.

Komen Planned Parenthood ECard

So you can imagine how sympathetic I am with Komen right now. Which is to say, not at all. I didn’t like them much before, because of how ubiquitous they were, but now that I’ve heard from Mother Jones that they are GOP funders, I like them even less.

Yesterday I was in line at the post office and casually asked my friend what he thought of the whole debacle. He said, “It’s terrible. Komen should support Planned Parenthood.” And the woman in front of us in line turned around and said, “YES, they should!” And she had been a staunch supporter of Komen. No longer.

So I do what I can. I donate to The Lilith Fund. I volunteer with Planned Parenthood when I can. I used to be an intern in their New York City offices. I believe very much in what they do.

But what do they do, exactly? Well, let’s take a break from anecdote and opinion, and talk facts.

• They prevent more abortions than any anti-choice organization.
• They give more mammograms, preventing breast cancer, than any breast cancer nonprofit.
• They give more physicals to people who have no access to healthcare than any other nonprofit.
• They also do STD testing on anyone and it takes 10 minutes and there is no judgemental atmosphere. I have been there with friends and it has all been convivial.

One look at the anti-choice website of, say, this nonprofit, or this media company, shows how they actively seek to prevent women from getting abortions. This is unconscionable.

Kivi Leroux Miller has also talked about this.

What do you think of this whole debacle?

Tell me where you stand.

Want to do something useful?

Sign the MoveOn petition to tell Komen what you think about defunding Planned Parenthood

You can also write, ping on twitter, or call the top Komen corporate funders. one thing we fundraisers know best is if you want to tell a nonprofit you don’t agree with their direction, complain to their funders. Their funders will listen, and look more critically at the decision to fund them.

Tweet for your tweeting: “@yoplaityogurt, I urge you to withdraw your donations from @komenforthecure #istandwithplannedparenthood”

Komen Big corporate sponsors:
* Yoplait @yoplaityogurt
* Bank of America @bofa_help
* Caltrate
* Ford @ford
* New Balance @newbalance
* ReMax @remax
* Self Magazine @selfmagazine
* Walgreens @walgreens
* Zeta Tau Alpha fraternity @ztafraternity
* Georgia-Pacific @georgiapacific

And ALL the rest:

3M
ACH Food Companies: Bake for the Cure
Acushnet – Titleist, Pinnacle and FootJoy Worldwide
Alternative Apparel
American Airlines
American Blue Ribbon Holdings
Anchor Bay Entertainment
Ansell Healthcare Products LLC
Aquage (SalonQuest, LLC)
Arizona AFO
Armouth International
Ask.com
Avcor Healthcare Products, Inc.
Balance Walking by Foot Solutions
Bank of America
BCBG MAXAZRIA and ClearVision Optical
Beemster Cheese
Belk
Berkley Packaging Company, Inc.
BIC USA Inc.
Boar’s Head Provisions Co., Inc.
BoConcept USA, Inc.
Boots Retail USA, Inc
Boston Proper
Boston Warehouse
Bowl for the Cure
Brinker International
Brown Shoe Company
Caché
California Pear Advisory Board
Caltrate
Canari Cyclewear
Candy Coburn – Pink Warrior
Caribou Coffee Company, Inc.
Carlisle Collection, Ltd
Caterpillar
Century Payments
Charlotte Motor Speedway and The Dollar General 300 Miles of Courage
Chasing Fireflies
Chesapeake Bay Candle Co
Citizen Watch Company of America
Clean Ones Corporation
Coldwater Creek
Collegiate Shipping Products, LLC
Corning Life Sciences
Crayola
Dallas Cowboys – I Promise
Dell
Deluxe Checks
Deuce Brand
Dots
DS Waters
Eggland’s Best, Inc.
Emdeon
Energizer
EuroBlooms
Evian
Evite and Postmark
Exercise TV
Exhale Enterprises, Inc.
Fable Designs, Inc
Feld Entertainment’s Disney on Ice presents Treasure Trove and Dare to Dream
Ford Gum
Ford Motor Company
Forever 21
Fragrance Marketing Group
Freed’s Bakery, LLC
FUZE and Honest Tea
Garden State Growers
General Growth Properties
General Mills Pink Together
Georgia-Pacific
Global Filtration
Globe Electric
Goldtouch
Graphique de France
GUESS
GUESS by Marciano
Hallmark Gold Crown Stores
Hampshire Designers
Hand & Nail Harmony
Hanesbrands
Helzberg Diamonds
Hewlett-Packard
Holland America Line
HSN – Shop for the Cure®
HUE
Hunter Boot USA, LLC
Igloo
Inliten
Interfresh, Inc.
IOGEAR
J. Berry Nursery
Jason Aldean
Jersey Mike’s Subs
Kelly Gale Amen Design
Kent International, Inc.
Kentucky Oaks Ladies First
Key Brands International
KeyBank Foundation
King’s Hawaiian Bakery West, Inc.
KitchenAid
Kobian USA, Inc.
Koch Filter Corporation
Koi Design
Kyocera
La Madeleine
LaCroix Sparkling Water
Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA)
Liberty Mutual
LIFE Event-The Val Skinner Foundation
Louisville Stoneware
Lowe’s Companies, Inc
LPGA Golf Clinics for Women
Magaschoni
Major League Baseball
McAlister’s Deli
MD Jockey Club – Preakness
MegaGoods, Inc.
Merck Consumer Care
Meredith Corporation
Microsoft
Mobile Edge
Mohawk Flooring – Decorate for the Cure
Mottega
Mrs. Baird’s Bakeries
Napa Valley Naturals
Nature’s Flowers
NBC Today Show
Nestle Purina PetCare Company
New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc.
New Global Charities
NKOTB
Nordstrom
North American Licensing Company
Not Your Daughter’s Jeans
Nuun
Oil Can Henry’s
Old Navy
Omaha Steaks
On The Border – Fiesta for the Cure™
Opal Orthodontics by Ultradent
OPI
Oracle Giving Commitment Grant
Oreck
Oregon Cherry Growers, Inc.
Oriental Trading Company
Otis Spunkmeyer, Inc.
Palmer’s
Pandora Jewelry
Paris Accessories, Inc (MMG Corporation)
Payless ShoeSource
Pepperidge Farm
Philips Consumer Lifestyle
Pink Ribbon Produce
PNY
Pottery Barn Kids
Premium Outlets
Pretzel Crisps
Princess Cruises Community Foundation
Prolacta Bioscience
Provide Commerce
Rally for the Cure®
Redken
REMAX
RiceSelect
Rich Products Corporation
Robinson Home Products
Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc.
Samsung Electronics Europe
Santa Barbara Design Studio and Designs by Lolita
Sarah Fisher Racing
Savvi Formalwear
SELF Magazine
ShoeDazzle
Shoutback Concepts – Deals for the Cure
Shuman Produce, Inc.
Simon Malls
SodaStream
Specialized Bicycle Components
Springs Global
Stanley Black & Decker
Stein Mart
Stylemark, Inc.
Sy Kessler Sales, Inc.
Teasdale Quality Foods
Testing
The Hillman Group
The Mohawk Group – Specify for a Cure
The Republic of Tea
TPR Holdings LLC
Trident Seafoods Corporation
True Religion Brand Jeans
Tubbs Romp to Stomp Snowshoe Series
U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation
Verbatim
Wacoal America
Walgreens
Wells Lamont
Woman Within
Yoplait USA
Young Dental
Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity
Zumba Fitness

You don’t have to agree with me about abortion. But since this is my blog, I will let you know that overtly hateful comments will be removed. You win some, you lose some.

Abortion. A line in the sand. originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on February 2, 2012.

The Heroes with a Heart Grant Celebrates Unsung Non-Profit Heroes

If you’re like most people, you get most of your inspiration from people who are quietly changing the world each and every day. They’re not on the front page of the newspaper, and they’re not mingling with the Gates and Buffets of the world. They’re everyday people like you and me who have shown extraordinary commitment to making this world better than when they found it.

The CTK Foundation “Heroes with a Heart” Grant Award asks YOU to nominate a “Hero with a Heart,” and give them a chance to win $5,000 – a simple thanks for the hard work that they do.

What are the details of the
“Heroes with a Heart” Grant?

Here’s an overview of awards the CTK Foundation will offer and details on how you can nominate your Hero:

• $15,000 for Three Heroes One Hero with a Heart from each of the three categories of Health and Human Social Service, Animal Rights and Environmental Protection and Arts and Literacy will be awarded $5,000 USD and a professionally produced video about their affiliated nonprofit for use in public awareness or education.
• $1,500 for One Hero The CTK Foundation will also be offering a $1,500 (USD) President’s Choice Award (the Susan Lee Winter Grant Award) for an individual working to provide creative and innovative approaches to HIV/AIDS education or prevention.
• Blogger’s Choice Award Lastly, there will be a Blogger’s Choice Award of $1,000 (USD). The CTK Foundation will choose a blogger (hopefully me) who will hand-pick one winner from any category.

Applications for all Heroes with a Heart grant awards open on Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 and close Wednesday, February 29th, 2012 at midnight. Finalists will appear on the CTK Facebook page for public voting during April and winners will be announced on May 1, 2012. This award is open to registered nonprofits or charities of all types and sizes, worldwide.

Go to www.communitytech.net/foundation to nominate your Hero with a Heart today!

For regular updates on the Heroes with a Heart Grant, check out the CTK Facebook Page.

Good luck, Heroes!

Do you have a favorite volunteer? Want to thank them, with MONEY? originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on February 1, 2012.

We’re more screwed than I knew!
Here’s more.

Nonprofit Quarterly reports on the Michigan State Charitable deduction going away.

Tony Martignetti just told me about Stephanie Strom, who is the reporter on Philanthropy for the New York Times.

Hawaii tried to levy a 1% tax on nonprofits in 2010 and failed, but now

California is trying to get more property taxes from nonprofits. And they are, in fact, succeeding.

Do you work at a nonprofit hospital?
The IRS MIGHT look into how much charity you actually do a bit more closely.

Also, nonprofit management wonks, philanthropists are now requiring management courses before they give money to nonprofits.

So if you’ve ever had a bad boss at a nonprofit, or wished there were an HR person, this just might be the trend that helps you get through that next day!

Philanthropists start requiring MANAGEMENT courses to keep nonprofits productive.

Actually this is the one bright spot in all of the research I’ve done today.

Have you heard any good news about nonprofits lately?

Are you new here? Welcome! Sign up for my newsletter and get fresh nonprofit fundraising, management and career ideas monthly!

First Name:

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Stephanie Strom’s take on Nonprofits originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on January 24, 2012.

Mazarine: Charlotte, why did you go to Uganda originally?

Charlotte: I came to Uganda with VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) on a two-year placement as the Marketing Development Manager for the Uganda Conservation Foundation (UCF). It was my dream job: marketing elephants! But when I say it’s my dream job, making it all happen can be a real challenge at times.

I’ve wanted to live in Africa since I was a teenager and always wanted to do VSO (the British version of Peace Corps). Twenty years after my first phone call to VSO, I’d finally acquired the skills and the life experience to help me spend two years living in and contributing to a developing country.

On a good week, we’d go on safari. (I still have to pinch myself!) It’s a day’s drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park and we would usually include an impromptu game drive. Reconnecting with the field projects is crucial, and of course fun!

Most of the time however, I wrote funding proposals, reports to donors and developed our Facebook page. My role was to raise UCF’s profile, fundraise, communicate with donors, help develop the local team’s skills – and fundraise some more! There were weeks when my job, plodding away on the laptop, was as routine as any other office worker’s, but then I remembered: I’m in Africa! And I’m helping protect elephants!

The VSO philosophy is sustainable development through sharing skills. This year I recruited a Marketing Officer who I continue to mentor, thus passing on my marketing skills to the local team. It means my VSO placement should have a long term, sustainable impact on UCF.

A key part of the role was sharing skills. Western IT skills, for example, are typically much more advanced than the average Ugandan’s and people tend to learn from each other (passing on the mistakes as well as the learning). You can really increase a person’s productivity through sharing simple PC skills that the average Westerner takes for granted. VSO teaches you to show people how to do things for themselves. It’s empowering and quite humbling to be a part of it. There have been some very frustrating and challenging times over the past three years but I can look back now and see some big improvements in terms of efficiency, team morale and organisation profile. It makes me smile to think I’ve been part of that.

Mazarine: What do you like best about Uganda?

Charlotte: That is such a difficult question, there are so many ways to fall in love with the country! Ugandans are wonderfully friendly people, and they will put themselves out to greet and welcome you. The countryside is beautifully diverse, the weather is (generally) fantastic and the country has the most incredible biodiversity: gorillas, chimps, elephants, lions, leopard, giraffe and zebra and 1,060+ species of birds. It really is paradise on earth.

Ugandan kids

The pace of life is slower: the work culture, travelling to meetings (because of the terrible traffic and enormous potholes) and even the time it can take you to cook dinner (after you’ve haggled for your purchases then boiled and filtered your water). The internet can be slow or off for days, people are sick more often, heavy rains can prevent people getting to work, the electricity can go off without warning – it can wear you down! But, people take the time for each other, it’s a simpler way of life. Modern life is so stressful – the choices I’m faced with when I travel home to the UK boggle my mind!

Mazarine: What have you found blogging helps you do?

Charlotte: I started my personal blog so friends and family back home could keep up to date with my adventure as a volunteer. I’ve often kept a diary when I travel so it was the logical thing to do. Blogging quickly became my biggest pastime. It was a way for me to process and try and make sense of the new world around me and gave me some creative time out from the formal proposal and report writing for UCF.

Over the past two and half years, promoting my blog via Twitter and Facebook has allowed me to connect with bloggers worldwide, which has helped me develop my creative travel writing. (My blog has appeared on Lonely Planet since 2009). After my VSO contract finished, in October I joined a Ugandan travel company. Conservation and tourism work hand-in-hand in Uganda, so it was a natural step for me. I can continue to support UCF in my spare time too, an added bonus. (I joke that I’ve been promoted from being a paid volunteer to an unpaid one!)

Blogging and social media have given UCF a global platform. It puts us up there with the biggest and the best, it’s made everyday communication with our donors simpler, and has given our fans the opportunity to interact with us on their terms.

Mazarine: What is your take on fundraising internationally in Africa? Tips? Tricks? Must dos? Must not dos?

Charlotte: It’s the same as anywhere in the world  - never take your donors for granted. Befriend them, get to know them, keep them up to date with everything you’re doing, even if it’s a photograph with a good strapline. There are many organisations out there who would love to support successful projects, and innovative ideas, you just need to find them. Often these recommendations can be made through existing donors.

UCF gets the majority of its funding from the West, thus it’s crucial that we have a good Internet connection and are able to maximise social media. It took me two years to get the hang of using Twitter in Uganda, the system distrusts users from Africa, it seems, and thought I was a hacker! (I had to ask my sister in the UK to log on for me. This reactivated my account and since then I’ve been able to have access again). Once I got the hang of it, it’s been the best medium for networking.

Travelling to the UK every six months also gives me an opportunity to get up to date with the latest technology trends. Much of the technology is not available in Africa; if it is available, it is much more expensive and has limited resources. Virtually everyone in Uganda owns a mobile and we are actually quite advanced in terms of SMS use for marketing and financial transactions using mobile phones. This is because very few people have bank accounts and, outside the cities, people don’t have computers or Internet access. So there is technological innovation, and it’s interesting that it’s taken a different direction from the West.

International donors have standards that developing countries may find very difficult to achieve and maintain. This relates to use of English language, good grammar, timekeeping, financial transparency, ability to use different computer programs, presentation skills. This does mean that small and local NGOs are at a huge disadvantage and simply don’t qualify, in terms of resources, to submit a winning funding application. It means that English language skills are much in demand, so that does give plenty of opportunities for Westerners who would like to support project funding overseas. If you get it right however, money from the West can go a very long way in a developing country.

Ideally you should always aim to get some of your revenue locally. This gets better local buy-in for your project (brownie points for advocacy campaigns, long-term survival of the organisation more likely, etc), and means you’re less at the mercy of foreign currency regulations, global recessions etc! That said, the Ugandan shilling has devalued so badly (current inflation is 30%) that funding from international donors is going even further than normal. We can’t expect this to last for long though, and it’s certainly not a fundraising strategy.

The average Ugandan doesn’t have much spare cash. Everyone goes to church and many will people will pay a tithe (possibly 10% of their salary will go to the church). This money is supposed to support those in the community who are in need. Charity fundraising is generally on a small scale, but big companies do sponsor various types of events and causes.

Mazarine: For projects donors will never visit, how do you create a connection to your mission?

Charlotte: Few of our donors have had the ability to fly out to Uganda to meet our projects. Our reports include lots of photographs. We bring back data on stories from the field, invite them to our events and speak to them on the phone. Our reports are very colourful and full of lots of big photographs and data that shows the impact of what we’re trying to achieve. We feature lots of people – and of course wildlife! We also include quotes, from members of the community, the wildlife Rangers, etc. This really brings our reports to life. All our reports include live links to our website and Facebook and Twitter and we always encourage people to engage with us online.

Uganda Conservation Foundation

If we had the money, we would make video too – and I’d certainly recommend that to anyone trying to make a connection. For us in Uganda, the other issue is Internet connection. It’s so slow that uploading videos is not something that we can do regularly, it just takes too long. However, the Internet infrastructure is slowly improving.

Mazarine: Do you fundraise from the local community as well? If so, how do you find your language shifts from talking with overseas donors versus talking with local donors? Do you ask for different things? Do you try to connect them with the mission in a different way?

Charlotte: We do fund raise from the local community, but predominantly from the corporate community, many of whom are westerners.

We have a corporate membership program, and we accept in-kind sponsorship as much as cash donations. Having these business friends whom we can call in favours from, is incredibly useful. A note of warning though, this feelgood factor doesn’t always give you the best service. There is a feeling that paying clients get a better service than we do, but if your cash strapped small organisation, it might be enough to keep you going.

In terms of Ugandans, their support is very important, as these people are the ones that can effect behavioural change in the long term. Our language very definitely changes, as do our messages. For example, most of our international donors are conservation organisations, thus our message is heavily focused on wildlife and habitat management, protecting human populations in order to protect the wildlife populations.

To local subsistence farmer communities in the national parks, the messages are different: we want to protect you and help lift you out of poverty and are investing in your community through education and income generating projects (beekeeping, digging of elephant trenches, slashing of the Bush). In return, communities are warned that the penalties for poaching are higher than they were before, but it does mean that you, your family and your livelihood will be better protected (from crop raiding animals) by the wildlife Rangers.

For the average Ugandan who lives in Kampala, for example, the message is that tourism is the number one foreign revenue earner. The majority of tourists come to Uganda for the wildlife. This wildlife is under threat but you can help protect it and thus help develop your country. We encourage people to be proud of their heritage. Many people don’t have money to spare to give UCF. That they hear our message is more important than them supporting us financially. You would simply not think of asking them to become members but you would refer them to Facebook, something which Ugandans are really crazy about!

Mazarine: Do you also run the volunteer coordination/recruitment and events for the Uganda Conservation Foundation? If so, do you have any tips for people who are asked to do too much?

Charlotte: We do not recruit volunteers, generally speaking. We have had one full-time VSO for two years at a time, three times in our history.

Many people approach us, asking to do voluntary work, but they’re not usually clear about exactly what it is they’re going to offer us and I’m afraid represent more work for us than opportunity. A volunteer has to be managed in the same way as a paid member of staff.

In terms of being asked to do too much, if you’re coming to an organisation and have a good skill set, it might be assumed that you can do all kinds of things. Have your role as clear as possible in your mind, and on paper, and communicate this with your colleagues. Do this more than once! Don’t rush to do everything, allow people the chance to try. VSO quite clearly warns us that we are unlikely to achieve the same amount of work as we would back home. You are working in a new culture with many limitations, so you have to reduce your expectations of yourself. It can be frustrating, it really can!

Mazarine: What’s one thing you wish you had known before you started in the NGO/Charity/Third Sector world?

Charlotte: I wish I’d appreciated how much free support is available online. I wish I had connected with you three years ago!

(Aw! Thank you Charlotte!)

Mazarine: How do you do marketing in your job? What resources and tools would you recommend for someone starting to market a charity in Africa?

Charlotte: Network as much as you can, attend external meetings, join groups, socialise.

Make Twitter your friend – this is the best way to meet people who are doing the same thing as you, same job in a different country, or related organisations in the same country as you. They will give you ideas and connections, and keep you going when you’re struggling.

Invest in an Internet dongle, a decent laptop, a Skype headset and a digital camera. Back everything up regularly!

Use Facebook to connect with your fans. Write a blog – and write it regularly. Spend time tagging it well and do some research on how to promote a blog. There are tons of free resources available to you. Have catchy subject headers, for example, and include at least one eye-catching photographs each time you post. Integrate everything so that news appears simultaneously across all your social media.

If you have a budget, considering using SMS for targeted messages. In Uganda, these have been particularly successful for encouraging people to have HIV testing for example.

I have a design and print background, and I was lucky enough to have an ex-colleague who developed some free report, presentation and newsletter templates for us. Having a professional, consistent image immediately improved our profile with our donors. You can download some fantastic free templates online and customise them with your organisation colours. If you can then insert photos and distribute by e-mail, your costs are very, very low.

There are thousands of charities crying out for decent marketing in Africa. There are some fantastic initiatives and it can be difficult for people to know which one to support. Keep your objectives clear. Report regularly to your donors and communicate with your supporters.

Mazarine: Do you also do grantwriting? If so, where do you go to look for grants for Uganda?

Charlotte: Proposal writing has been a key part of my job. Most of our funds are from existing donors, and they in turn recommend new donors for us to approach. We research donors that support similar organisations to our own, in Uganda and in other African countries. We also approached the big aid agencies, like the European Union the US Fish and wildlife service, etc.

Although UCF came into being to protect elephants, over the past 10 years in operation, we’ve widened this to cover poaching, human wildlife conflict, conservation education and livelihoods of subsistence farmers. Put your creative hat on and think how your projects touch on different issues, and different groups of people. One project may have many different areas of influence and impact; try and work out what these are. Understanding these will give you ideas on new people and organisations to approach.

Mazarine: What is your plan for the future? Where would you like to be in 5 years?

Charlotte: I was not the first VSO who wanted to stay in Uganda and first extended my contract by six months.

I now work for a travel company based in Kampala. I’m hoping to develop my travel writing further and in 2012 I am writing a ‘coffee table book’  about Uganda. This is due for publication in October.

Whether I’m based in Africa or back in the UK in five years, I know that my heart will still be in Uganda and that I will be working in the travel business. I feel there are tremendous opportunities for helping develop and promote tourism – across East Africa.

Thank you so much Charlotte! Even though I too have volunteered and done grantwriting overseas, I did it in Indonesia, and it was a very different time than it is today! I learned so much about international fundraising, marketing, and volunteering from your interview. Thank you! (if you have any questions for charlotte, or if you’d like to learn more about volunteering or working internationally, please visit her blog, Diary of a Muzungu, or follow her on Twitter @CharlieBeau)

Are you fundraising for Africa? Read this! originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on January 23, 2012.

Fundraising Predictions 2012

The Atlas of Giving is different than Giving USA in that it gives you PREDICTIONS when your fundraising is most likely to do well. It tells you when you can expect the best results, and when you should hold back.

Really. Isn’t this exciting?

Check out the whole report on Scribd.

Here are some highlights of the Atlas of Giving report for December 2011.

1. Giving was up in 2011, and you can expect it to be up again in 2012 because

• The DOW is up
• Consumer confidence is up
• Unemployment is trending downward
• Consumer borrowing increased
• CEO confidence is up
• Winter weather was nonexistent in much of the US, so people didn’t have huge heating bills. (I swear I am not making this up)

2. The Good and the Bad: Fundraising results will go up in Alaska, but down in Illnois, New York, Pennsylvania, Florida and California.

3. April is the cruelest month:
Apparently April is going to be a slump month this 2012, so don’t try to do your appeal or an event in April. Do it in March or May instead. (Unless you’re fundraising for the arts or the environment. Then go nuts!)

4. Religious giving is now lagging behind other sectors, which is shocking, usually they do the best! So, if you’re fundraising for a religious or spiritual institution, try doing direct mail, e-appeals, etc and bust out of your business as usual thing.

5. September should be an exceptional month for fundraising, so try to plan your events and appeals for then.

Those are the main things I got from the report.

What did YOU get out of it?

Are you as excited as I am about the possibility of being able to do a broad sweep and make predictions based on what’s come before?
 

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What are you planning for? Fundraising Predictions for 2012 originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on January 19, 2012.

“I’m looking for reader input on whether and when New York Times news reporters should challenge “facts” that are asserted by newsmakers they write about.”

 
Dear Mr. Brisbane,

“I’m looking for reader input on whether you have lost your balls and where they might be found, if so.”

 
WHAT IS BEING A JOURNALIST ALL ABOUT?

ARE YOU INSANE?

ARE YOU ASKING US WHETHER OR NOT YOU SHOULD REPORT THE TRUTH, OR JUST PRETEND TO?

 
WTF New York Times?

DO YOU ALL HAVE JOURNALISM DEGREES OR NOT?

Did you go to fashion school instead of journalism school?

What, is it just UNFASHIONABLE to tell the truth now, so why bother?

Should the Times be a Truth Vigilante?

 
A Vigilante? What do you even mean by that? How about a Truth Teller, or the more old-fashioned term, Journalist? What is more important than telling the truth with the USA’s biggest newspaper, if you have the chance to? What is more important than that? What is more important than telling people they are being lied to, and what to do about it? What is more important than standing up and saying, “This is not right, and we do not agree” with the “newsmakers” you write about?
Do you know what one very brave journalist named Chris Hedges is doing right now?

 
He is suing the pants off of Barack Obama for daring to detain American Citizens for no reason, because that just happens to be unconstitutional. That’s right. He’s not just being a journalist, he’s being an activist. He’s doing on our behalf. The New York Times might want to stand with a fellow journalist at this time. They might want to applaud the guts that he has and do their best to keep this issue in the forefront of the newspaper reporting.

 
Chris Hedges writes on TruthDig.org: “This demented “war on terror” is as undefined and vague as such a conflict is in any totalitarian state.

Dissent is increasingly equated in this country with treason.

 
Enemies supposedly lurk in every organization that does not chant the patriotic mantras provided to it by the state. And this bill feeds a mounting state paranoia. It expands our permanent war to every spot on the globe. It erases fundamental constitutional liberties.

It means we can no longer use the word “democracy” to describe our political system.

 
The supine and gutless Democratic Party, which would have feigned outrage if George W. Bush had put this into law, appears willing, once again, to grant Obama a pass. But I won’t.

What he has done is unforgivable, unconstitutional and exceedingly dangerous. The threat and reach of al-Qaida—which I spent a year covering for The New York Times in Europe and the Middle East—are marginal, despite the attacks of 9/11. The terrorist group poses no existential threat to the nation. It has been so disrupted and broken that it can barely function. Osama bin Laden was gunned down by commandos and his body dumped into the sea. Even the Pentagon says the organization is crippled.

So why, a decade after the start of the so-called war on terror, do these draconian measures need to be implemented? Why do U.S. citizens now need to be specifically singled out for military detention and denial of due process when under the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force the president can apparently find the legal cover to serve as judge, jury and executioner to assassinate U.S. citizens, as he did in the killing of the cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen? Why is this bill necessary when the government routinely ignores our Fifth Amendment rights—“No person shall be deprived of life without due process of law”—as well as our First Amendment right of free speech? How much more power do they need to fight “terrorism”?

Fear is the psychological weapon of choice for totalitarian systems of power.

 
Make the people afraid. Get them to surrender their rights in the name of national security. And then finish off the few who aren’t afraid enough.

If this law is not revoked we will be no different from any sordid military dictatorship.

 
Its implementation will be a huge leap forward for the corporate oligarchs who plan to continue to plunder the nation and use state and military security to cow the population into submission.”

WHAT is the point of having a newspaper if you are asking your readers whether or not you should tell the truth?

What kind of spineless, gutless newspaper are you running?

Are you just trolling for comments?

WHAT GIVES?!

 
Are you basically saying that you are going to become a mouthpiece for the government in a country known for freedom, liberty, equality and justice? Oh, the irony!

Might as well rename The New York Times “Government Pamphlet #1444″ and be done with it Mr. Brisbane!

And if you want some balls, I have extras.

Should The Times Be a Truth Vigilante? Should the Pope Be Catholic? originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on January 18, 2012.

But since we don’t have that, why else are we in trouble?

Well, aside from the Great Depression 2.0,

Aside from Corporations taking over art’s right to dissent from The Free Free School:

“Corporations who refuse to pay £billions in taxes are fêted for their relatively paltry largess and are awarded privileged access to events and policymaking. Donations no longer fit within notions of ‘patronage’ or ‘philanthropy’ but are strategically targeted blue chip branding exercises. This is part of a much bigger drive towards the marketisation of the arts and the privatisation of cultural provision and public space.”

Your nonprofit could start have to pay taxes and pay for a number of things. Such as sewage, water costs, property taxes, and finally, on any money that you bring in.

Think I’m kidding?

So first, in 2010, we had   “Attack of the Tax Exemption Killers from Blue Avocado”

Then in May 2011, from the Wall Street Journal Online: Strapped City Chicago asks nonprofits to pay sewage, water costs

From MetroTrends.org: Oh, also nonprofits asked to pay Property Taxes

From the Nonprofit Quarterly: Occupy the Charitable Tax Deduction?

Then in January 2012, from the NonprofitQuarterly: New Benefit Corps are a message to nonprofits?

Drew McManus talks about why most discussions about new nonprofit models are dead ends.

And Pamela Grow points me to a new tax on retirement income in Michigan! And they PASSED IT! So that tiny $200 social security check that you’ll get at age 65 to live on? Now THAT will be taxed too, so you’ll probably get $150 or something. Who can live on $200 a month, let alone $150 a month in America anymore?

I’ve been talking with Gene Takagi of Nonprofit Law Blog and he says:

“Well, cities are strapped for cash, so you must expect them to start looking to nonprofits for more revenue.”

ORLY?

See, here’s the thing. Pardon the caps.

WHY NOT ACTUALLY CHARGE BIG CORPORATIONS WHO HAVE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS THE TAXES THEY HAVE AVOIDED INSTEAD OF ASKING ALREADY CASH STRAPPED NONPROFITS TO PAY?

The idea that nonprofits should pay taxes is a red herring.

There’s money all around us. It’s just being held by the biggest corporations. Why should nonprofits have to pay the price of bad corporate tax laws on the part of cities/counties and states?

Maybe we have to ask ourselves, is it because we are not speaking up in defense of the sector?

Is it because we are not so hot at advocacy?

COULD we partner more to get better results?

Gene suggested on Twitter that nonprofits could train boards to advocate. But I don’t think that’s good enough. And apparently, neither did John Hardie, @PocoJuan on Twitter. See our convo below.

Commentary from @pocojuan on Twitter

Is there some way nonprofit associations in each state could spearhead this effort to protect the charitable tax deduction, like TANO is doing here in Texas?

Well?

What do you think?

If your nonprofit is part of a nonprofit association, why not ask them what they’re doing about this issue? Ask them what they’re doing to protect YOUR nonprofit?

And @PocoJuan had more to say:

PocoJuan on Twitter

What do YOU think? What do YOU have to say?

Is the answer getting your board to advocate?

Is it getting your association to advocate on your behalf?

Is the answer hiring a lobbying firm?

Is the answer starting a petition?

What can YOU DO right NOW?

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Your Nonprofit is in Trouble. How? Read on. originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on January 17, 2012.

Because of my posts about being a nonprofit wage slave, and being unable to make rent on a nonprofit “salary”, someone took issue with this. Actually, more than one person did, and I’m glad about it. I got a reader email saying,

“I HATE YOUR PITY PARTY! IF YOU DON’T LIKE HOW YOU’RE PAID IN NONPROFITS THEN GET OUT!”

And some other, less choice words.

And well, shoot man.

What are people who want to change the world supposed to do? Some of us are best suited to being social workers. Some of us are best suited to being therapists. Some of us are best suited to being bus drivers or nonprofit office managers. We still deserve a higher wage. I will show you why.

Here’s my question for you.

Why should people in the nonprofit sector make less than every other sector?

Rick Cohen on Blue Avocado says, “It’s official, we’re paid less than any other sector.”

Proof:

And it's not like we're going to get paid significantly more in other sectors.

The fact is man, wages haven’t risen since the 1970s in most sectors.

Proof:

More Proof:

That means MOST people, not just nonprofits, are getting the short end of the stick. Especially women. Especially women of color. So even if we “get out of the sector” it is not much better out there than in here.

And people from every economic strata, such as doctors, nurses, air traffic controllers, hotel maids, pepsi truck drivers, are getting shafted. Here’s a post I did about how no sector is safe. Using data and detailed economic research and in-depth investigative journalism from Mother Jones. One of the top progressive nonprofit news sources in the US.

Starting your own business is not the answer.

You ended with a “start your own business” rant and frankly, that’s not a reality for most people. We shouldn’t have to start our own businesses to make a living wage. Not everyone is suited to being an entrepreneur.

America is also not one of the best places to start a business, contrary to popular myth. The best places? New Zealand. Canada. Australia. According to DoingBusiness.com, the US is ranked 13th in ease of starting a business.

Maybe next time you criticize someone wanting to help people get paid more, you should do your own research into this issue. It’s easy for you, as an english-speaking white man with a cushy job at a foundation in America with many resources to get started as an entrepreneur.

Have you ever stopped to consider what the barriers are for a black woman with two kids? A single mom of any color? What about a black man coming out of the judicial system? What about a hispanic man who may not speak English?

Income equality will help EVERYONE’s standard of living rise. And that IS worth fighting for.

We need to speak for those who need our support to get pay parity. Income equality. Equal treatment no matter what the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, how long they’ve been unemployed, or how many children they have or are planning to have. Maybe you’ve never experienced this discrimination personally, but let me tell you, it’s out there.

The Spirit Level Book (a must read!)

In a truly equal society, as argued in “The Spirit Level, Why Equality is Better for Everyone,” by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, say:

Since we finished writing The Spirit Level in the spring of 2008, there have been many more studies reporting relationships between inequality and health. Nine of the new studies look specifically at rich, developed countries. Seven find, as we do, that health is worse in more unequal societies.

AND

“There is now evidence that inequality played a central causal role in the financial crashes of 1929 and of 2008. We suggested that inequality leads to increases in debt. It turns out that they are intimately related.” For more details, check out this article.

So if you think that it doesn’t matter that people at nonprofits don’t make enough money, then you’re basically saying that you don’t care that people who want to make the world better are less healthy, and that we have more giant financial crashes.

From the same article above:

“In his first major speech as leader of the Labour Party (in the UK), Ed Miliband said: “I do believe this country is too unequal and the gap between rich and poor doesn’t just harm the poor, it harms us all . . .”"

Let me just clarify this once and for all.

THIS IS NOT A PITY PARTY.

I’m here to call attention to disparities. I’m here to be a cultural critic. I’m here to help people think about how they want to change their worlds, their nonprofits, their lives.

My prescription for positive change? Unionize. Organize. Get clear about what you want to change and then change it. I’m not going to change it for you. But I’m not going to pretend that business as usual is just fine with me.

Wake up man! This is NOT a meritocracy.

And this is not a pity party. This is a call to action.

Do you understand me now?

You can tell the pioneers, because they’re the ones with arrows all over their chests.

I’m happy to stand beside Dan Pallotta, a white man who writes for the Harvard Business Review, and author of “Uncharitable” and agitate for a stronger nonprofit sector, to agitate for everyone who is getting underpaid at nonprofits right now. To agitate for better pay and better treatment for everyone. If that means unions, then so be it. If there’s another way, I’d be open to hearing what it is.

I’m happy to speak up. And I hope if you feel the same way, you’ll leave a comment, email me, or say hi on Twitter.

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This is not a pity party. You understand? originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on January 16, 2012.

If you need a little more WHY:

Why would you want to sit on a nonprofit board?

Because you believe in the mission. But also, it’s a good way to move on up in your nonprofit career. Have you ever known an executive director who previously sat on your nonprofit board? This seems to happen quite a lot. Two nonprofits I’ve worked for had this happen. You can probably name a few, yourself.

What does sitting on a board entail?

It entails making sure your executive director is not stealing money with the nonprofit credit card. And then, if they are caught, it entails firing them.

Oh, no, they didn’t do it by accident. Because if they tell you that, and you let them stay, THEY WILL DO IT AGAIN, and STEAL EVEN MORE.
But seriously though.

I am being serious. That just happened to a nonprofit I used to work for.

As a board member, you are fiscally responsible for the nonprofit organization. So, if it goes belly up and can’t pay its bills, YOU are left holding the bag. So, don’t take this lightly. Also, you should learn how to fundraise and teach your fellow board members how to do it, so that you don’t have to worry about this happening.

What if I don’t want to fundraise?
Everyone can do something. Maybe you can stuff envelopes. Call people to say thank you for giving a gift. Research grants. Advocate for more funds at the government level. I have a comprehensive checklist and quiz that goes into detail about how you can help your board members fundraise here.

What else?

You need to give to this nonprofit, so that you can convince other people you know to give. That will be more convincing. Also, it should be in the bylaws that you need to give.

Ugh, really?

Yeah. But if you don’t believe in the mission, then why are you on the board anyway?

What about the board meetings?

Those are going to be once a month, probably. 2 hours of your time. Take this time to get to know staff better. Let them know you’re there to help. Ask what you can do. Be realistic about what you can accomplish with a certain timeframe. If a board report is not making sense to you, ask to have it explained. Your other board members will secretly thank you.

Committees?

Yes, you’ll probably be asked to sit on a committee too. There’s the marketing/communications committee, the fundraising/gala committee, the executive committee, the website committee, the strategic planning committee, the finance committee, etc. One thing I’ve learned from sitting on nonprofit boards is that if I do fundraising for my job all day, I’m kind of burnt out on doing it for other people for free after I get off work. So even if you’re an accountant, maybe you don’t want to do it for free for this nonprofit. Say so up front, if so. However, this does lead to people who aren’t terribly skilled in the committee focus being on this committee. Nobody said being on a board was easy. But it can help you be seen in more leadership roles, create the right relationships to get you that development director or executive director position. Click the link at the top of this post to see what board positions are available at nonprofits near you.

If you like this post, check out
“Are You Pressuring Your Board?” by Alexandra Peters

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Do you want to sit on a nonprofit board? originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on January 11, 2012.

He writes:

“Often exiles from nonprofits because they were ineffective, burned out or just wanted a bigger paycheck, bad consultants can drain nonprofits’ limited funding in return for simplistic advice masquerading as strategic thinking.

Many who could not cut it as nonprofit professionals turn to consulting because they spot easy prey in nonprofits desperate for strategic advice.” . . .

What these consultants are selling is blind faith in their image and self-confidence. But after paying the fees, many nonprofits are left with little more than a consultant’s promise that cosmetic and formulaic changes will improve their organizations.

Nonprofits buy what mediocre consultants are selling because, strained to the breaking point in our damaged economy, and struggling to make ends meet in the face of rising demand for services and of shrinking resources, they need help and want to believe the consultants can provide it.”

—————————————————

Ouch! Obviously Todd has talked with nonprofits who have been burned by consultants who didn’t really help them or deliver on what they promised to deliver.

Here’s my response.
————————————-

Dear Todd,

I appreciate you bringing up the fact that we have to vet nonprofit consultants more carefully.

And I agree, a nonprofit should be wary of general strategists simply because no one consultant can be an expert on strategy for every type of nonprofit. I’d be more inclined to trust a consultant who specialized in, say, K-12 educational strategy than someone who said they provided general nonprofit strategy.

In my own consulting practice, I don’t give simplistic advice or offer empty strategy. I wrote a book called The Wild Woman’s Guide to Fundraising and I teach webinars offering step by step guides on how to do various tasks, including finding sponsorships, finding grants, and putting out direct mail pieces.

There may not be regulations on consultants, but I do my best to be transparent, which means I disclose exactly how much I’ve personally raised with the methods above.

I don’t just rely on my own experience. I read books, go to conferences, attend trainings, and research online and look at the best examples I can find in the field before offering advice to nonprofits. I’m always learning, always trying to provide more value for nonprofits.

I think the best consultants can offer nonprofits the gift of shortcuts and best writing samples, at the very least, if they are focused on hands-on, how-to instruction.

When it comes to successful fundraising or strategy, you forget that you need a trained and motivated board, a dynamic leadership, and an engaged community. Probably most nonprofits don’t have these, which is why they come to a consultant in the first place.

People need to take responsibility for the situation they created, not blame the consultant for not giving them a quick fix.

• One consultant alone cannot overcome the fact that no one on the board has ties to a foundation.
• One consultant cannot transfer 10 relationships with corporations to a nonprofit to get those sponsorships.
• One consultant cannot overcome a 5 year lapse in sending appeals with the first appeal.
• One consultant cannot overcome the lack of any development staff to carry on the work once they leave.

You talk about nonprofit consultants not taking responsibility for their actions. I’m not trying to pass the buck here. I’m trying to talk about what can realistically be accomplished with the assistance of a nonprofit consultant.

Rather than expecting the consultant to solve all organizational problems in the space of a week or a month, why not just help the consultant train the ED or other development staff to write a better appeal letter, or how to do speaking engagements more effectively?

Or if you think the consultant is still too removed, what about creating contracts where the consultant works together with the nonprofit, checks in with them over a period of 6 months to 1 year, to help them tweak their fundraising and development?

What do YOU think of these solutions?

Are you looking for a nonprofit consultant?

What has worked best for you in terms of hiring someone to help your nonprofit, from the outside?

If you are a nonprofit consultant, have you ever felt like people expected you to overcome too much?

How did you deal with managing expectations?

Please share your experience in the comments.

A response to “Bad Nonprofit Consultants” from Inside Philanthropy originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on January 9, 2012.