Who’s on Board?

No. 7 Winter 2014 A member publication of the Georgia Center for Nonprofits

FACT: Warren Buffett made an average of $37 million every day in 2013.

That headline jumped out at me recently as I was considering my own end-of-the-year giving. I had recently read a biography of Buffett, and I think his approach to investments translates well to how we, as nonprofit professionals, should think about being good investment choices for donors. Buffett’s simple formula for investing:

“Our investments continue to be few in number and simple in concept: The truly big investment idea can usually be explained in a short paragraph. We like a business with enduring competitive advantages that is run by able and owner-oriented people. When these attributes exist, and when we can make purchases at sensi-ble prices, it is hard to go wrong.”

This is great wisdom to think about in reverse. How does your nonprofit stand up to Buffett’s formula? Does your organization provide enduring competitive advantages? Is it run by people who are capable and who “own the mission”?

You are not alone if you have ever wondered what a competitive advantage really is and what you do with it. Let’s start with what it is not. Your competitive advantage is not a checklist of strengths. Good reputation in the community; skilled staff; well-respected leader; knowledgeable about the issues; strong donor list; client

focus: most relatively successful nonprofit organizations share those strengths. Your competitive advantage is what your organization does better than anyone else.

The enduring aspect refers to your ability to continue doing those things over a long period of time. For example, one could argue that the unique competitive advantage at McDonald’s is operational excellence, enabling them to deliver a cheap, consistent experience, quickly and in large volumes, anywhere their customers happen to be. Other organizations get their leading edge from specialized talent pools that drive innovation and development—think Johnson & Johnson or Google. Nonprofits can develop advantages in operations or innovation as well, but we can also focus on dimensions like stra-tegic partnering skills and public influence.

The new breed of donor is investing Buffett-style, seeking organi-zations with true and lasting core competencies. The dream, for us and for our donors, is exactly as Buffett describes it: “When we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favorite holding period is forever.”

Want forever donors? Cultivate a competitive advantage and use it to create sustainable results. As always, GCN’s mission is to help you succeed. Please call on us in this new year to be your partner in navi-gating your leadership, management, and governance challenges.

Karen BeavorPresident and CEOGeorgia Center for Nonprofits

Are you taking advantage?

opening

16 INTERVIEW Mayor Kasim Reed: Another Term of Service The freshly re-inaugurated Mayor of Atlanta chats with GCN President and CEO Karen Beavor about the ways he’s renewed the city’s commitment to community and youth development, volunteerism, and strong working relationships with Atlanta nonprofits.

19 LEADERSHIP Trust and Transition at RRISA In our third Board Chair-CEO conversation, GCN’s Cindy Cheatham finds out what powers the high-performing board at member nonprofit Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta, and how they prepared for a successful merger with fellow GCN member Refugee Family Services.

4 Who’s on Board? We look at questions of motivation and need when it comes to your board, uncovering new data on what drives them, simple-but-powerful tools for your board development strategy, and how to get your recruitment efforts started.

CONTENTS

focus GOVERNANCE

12 Board or Superboard: The Engaged Board Member Difference GCN member Moving in the Spirit reveals the secret to a joyful, productive, enthusiastic board: a leadership plan built around deep personal relationships and mutual understanding.

Powered Their Own Gives Day Success The results are in from GCN’s second annual Georgia Gives Day. To find out what drove more than $1.4 million in giving on Nov. 13, we drill down into the stats and asked the organi- zations who made it happen. 29 COMMUNITY

34 CALENDAR

22 FUNDRAISING Before the Big Ask: Four Questions You Must Answer Co-authors Howard Stevenson and Shirley Spence, both of Harvard Business School, preview the practical wisdom in their new book Getting to Giving with a look at four questions every major donor now wants the answers to. Plus: The Joy of Fundraising.

26 IMPACT How Nonprofits

Lionel FlaxCEO, Sam Flax Art Supply Corp. Board Chair, Living Walls

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Board?Who’son

Lawrence KennyManaging Director, Russell Reynolds AssociatesBoard Chair, Camp Twin Lakes

“There is nothing so inspiring as a group of people from various backgrounds coming together for a common purpose; especially if that purpose is rendering heartfelt service unto others. It means a great deal to me to play a role in providing medically-fragile children with the oppor-tunity to attend camp and be with other children who are experiencing the same life challenge. Everything we do is for the campers, and in that we are all united.”

Why do board members serve? What does your organization need in a governance team? Without understanding the answers to both of those questions, your organization will struggle to recruit and engage an effective leadership. In the following pages, we provide some helpful tools, strategies, data and insights, starting with the results from our latest study, delving into board member motivations.

5No. 7 | Winter 2014

By Marc Schultz

TO HELP YOU GET IT RIGHT FROM THE START, we then ask GCN President and CEO Karen Beavor to share her process for understanding your mission-critical board needs and assembling a governance team that meets them all. We follow up with Senior Affiliate Consultant Jack Beckford—a seasoned board trainer and small nonprofit specialist—for some places to look for the board talent you need to start courting. Then, Dana Lupton and Heather Infantry, of member nonprofit Moving in the Spirit, contribute a practical look at the difference an engaged board makes.

TOGETHER, THEY’LL SHOW YOU how to under-stand the team you have, recruit for the team you need, and make sure each individual board member has the structure and support to lead your organization. Following that, you’ll find a rundown of online board-building resources from GCN, detailing our growing inventory of tools and articles (all at gcn.org/boards), annual training opportunities, and consulting expertise.

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THE BOARD CHAIRS SPEAK TO GET A SENSE FOR WHAT DRIVES THEM TO PUT SO MUCH TIME,

ENERGY, AND PASSION INTO THEIR ROLES, WE PUT THIS QUESTION

TO THE BOARD LEADERS AT SOME OF OUR MEMBER NONPROFITS:

WHAT’S BEEN THE MOST VALUABLE PART OF YOUR EXPERIENCE

SERVING AS A BOARD CHAIR? FOLLOWING ARE SOME OF THEIR

RESPONSES, WITH MORE AT GCN.ORG/BOARDCHAIRS:

Mary HowellDirector, Corporate Finance, IDIBoard Chair, Kate’s Club“Being actively involved in nurturing rela-tionships with board members, Kate’s Club members, families, and volunteers—a community brimming with enthusiastic supporters committee to our mission—while being pushed out of my accounting/finance comfort zone. At Kate’s Club, I’m involved in marketing, strategic planning, and donor identification and cultivation discussions—topics I don’t regularly consider as a ‘numbers person.’”

To provide a starting point for the process of understanding what activates your board mem-bers—what drives them to serve as volunteer leaders—GCN, in partnership with research teams at Old Dominion University and Seattle University, conducted a motivation survey of board members at 726 Georgia nonprofits. We’ve brought some of the conclusions together below, giving you a launching point for the deeper investigation into what, exactly, drives your board members to give their best.

Why they’re here According to our study, Board Member Motivation at Georgia Nonprofits, board members are here largely to serve—the top five reasons given for joining a board all involve service: to the organi-zation, to the mission, to the beneficiaries, and to society at large. Filling out the last five: the desire to work (“share my expertise and professional skills”), to join (“loyalty and respect for the orga-nization,” “to work with others”), and to learn—and not just “about the organization and the cause,” but about themselves. (Reason no. 10, out of 27? “Opportunity for personal growth.”) Asking why veteran board members stick with their role, we found some subtle but significant shifts: The desire to serve becomes more focused on the mission, the beneficiaries, and the organiza-tion. The desire to learn becomes more focused on the organization and the community. By far the most weighty shift: a 20-percentage-point jump in “loyalty to and respect for the organization.” Cindy Cheatham, VP of GCN’s Nonprofit Consulting Group, says that shift indicates that the most

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Out of 27 choices, these are the ten responses chosen most often by board members when asked why they first joined a nonprofit board.

1. To serve the organization and contribute to its success

2. To be helpful to others

3. To contribute to society

4. Sense of duty/commitment to the mission

5. To help the par-ticular group that this organization serves

6. To share my expertise and professional skills

7. Out of loyalty to and respect for the organization

8. I have a desire to work with others

9. To learn more about the orga-nization and the cause it supports

10. Opportunity for personal growth

Source: Board Member Motivation at Georgia Non-profits, GCN/Old Dominion University/Seattle University

TO SERVE, TO WORK, TO JOIN, TO LEARN

The first thing you have to do is stop thinking of them simply as “The Board.” Start by understanding your board members one at a time—as individuals—each with his or her individual motivations, talents, interests, and values. Yes, they’ve agreed to help lead your organization to greatness—but it’s up to you to discover what each board member’s abilities are, and what drives him or her to put those abilities to use. Otherwise, you can’t ever expect to get the best of them working for your organization.

“IN ORDER TO EARN THEIR LOYALTY AND RESPECT, EVERY INTERACTION WITH YOUR ORGANIZATION NEEDS TO BE VALUABLE. THAT MEANS PERSONAL AND MEANINGFUL. PEOPLE WORK FOR PEOPLE.”

important part of retaining a board member is cultivat-ing his or her personal relationship with the organi-

zation: “That jump in ‘loyalty’ may be the most significant finding in this report. In order to earn their loyalty and respect, every interaction with your organization needs to be valuable. That means personal and meaningful. Peo-ple work for people.” Other questions

looked into the background of board members: most (73%) were taught as children they should “lend a helping hand,” and a strong majority (62%) attended religious services as kids often or “all of the time.” Almost all of them (90%) say public service is “very important,” most (83%) say they’re moved by the plight of the underprivileged, and most (75%) think “patriotism” includes seeing to the welfare of others. Together, these facts give us a picture of the board member in general: the type of cloth he’s cut from, the kinds of motivations he generally brings to the boardroom. Generally speaking, they’re driven to serve, at least initially, by an ingrained sense of duty, often religiously-, spiritually-, or community-based—which also gives us a sense of where to find good board member candidates, and what to ask about when we vet them.

WHY THEY SERVE

7No. 7 | Winter 2014

Who you need Just as important as developing a deep individual rela-tionship with each board member, it’s also important to understand what your team of individuals amounts to, and what qualities, skills, and connections it still needs to fulfill all your organization’s strategic goals—that is, to become a well-rounded, fully-functional superteam capable of taking on any challenge. To figure out what kinds of individuals your team has, and what kinds it still needs, you need a process for dis-cerning assets and talent gaps on your board, in relation to your strategic goals. To do that, we advocate laying out your strategic goals and the skill sets necessary to achieve those goals, then determining which of those skill-sets your board already has on-hand. In our years training nonprofit EDs and boards, we’ve developed a simple method for pro-ducing three handy reference charts that will tell you, at a glance, the key assets your board has, and needs, to make your initiatives successful. “By implementing an intentional process for discerning strengths and gaps on the board, vetting candidates and prioritizing them appropriately,” says Beavor, “you’ll find not only that your candidates are better suited to the work at hand, but that new members will begin their tenure with clearly-defined roles.” Beavor’s “fairly foolproof methodology” begins witha Strategic Needs Table. Start by placing your organization’s strategic goals across the top row of a table. Think about the strategies you’ve decided on to reach those goals, and list the skill sets you’ll need to accomplish them beneath. “If your goal is to, say, increase the availability of quality affordable housing, one of your strategies might be to purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed properties, then rent them at an affordable rate,” says Beavor. “For that, you probably need a number of skill sets: real estate expertise to negotiate deals, banking expertise to assist with financ-ing, an attorney to manage contracts, and a contractor for renovation and maintenance.” As you look across all your goals and strategies, you’re also looking for repeating skill-sets. The need for an attorney, for instance, might arise across a number of goals. Therefore, having an attorney on your board might become a priority position to fill. This person could

Margaret Buker Board Chair, Care and Counseling Center of Georgia “The opportunity to be associated with an organiza-tion that serves all persons and communities in need with respect to their relationships. Many worthwhile agencies deal with the physical needs or challenges of those they serve, but few seek to address the more in-tangible aspects of a well-balanced life: mental health, interpersonal relationships, the psychological impact of trauma and other life-changing events.”

Susan R. BellManaging Partner, Ernst & Young Board Chair, United Way of Greater Atlanta“Learning about, and feeling great about, the collective impact our staff, board, and other volunteers make when we work together to build a better working community. Helping teach people how to fish, not just fishing for them.”

Lee CarrollAssociate Professor Emeritus (retired), Columbia Theological SeminaryBoard Chair, Central Outreach and Advocacy Center“I have grown to believe that there is a very special place in the heart of God for the poor, and that the true calling of humankind is to practice radical hospitality, especially for those who are suffering or disadvantaged. My service on the Center’s board has given me an experience in which my theological convictions and my human vocation have come together in a way that is deeply satisfying.”

RIGHT FROM THE START

Rebecca HoodOwner, Rebecca Hood DesignsBoard Chair, Nuçi’s Space“I have found great strength through my own experi-ence with Nuci’s Space and I’m proud that I can now help others seeking help and access to mental health care, while helping build and lead an active, passion-ate, and diversely-talented board of directors.”

Henry KellyProject Executive, Georgia PowerBoard Chair, 100 Black Men of Atlanta “Being able to see the work of the organization come to fruition and to know that I’m a part of the leader-ship team, providing direction for an organization that improves the quality of life for youth in the African American community.”

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provide legal advisement, connections to other attorneys, or legal resources and guidance.

Who you haveBefore you can determine the types of board members you need to recruit, you’ve got to understand who on the board already understands the ins and outs of each strategy. To do that, you’ll need to construct a Current Board Inventory. That means creating another table, this one listing the skill-sets identified by your Strategic Needs Table across the top row, and your current board mem-bers down the left-hand column. For each board member, put a check beneath the skill sets they possess. If you don’t yet know your board members well enough to make an accurate inventory—and don’t assume you do—Beavor advis-es creating a short survey that you can send through email or conduct over the phone. Be sure to ask about current and past employment; significant hobbies; major corporate, philanthropic, or donor relationships; professional association involvement; political positions held; and any other boards served on. You may be surprised! With your board inventory finished, you should be able to see, at a glance, the strengths your board possesses and the gaps that need filling. “From that table,” says Beavor,“it should be easy to

Strategic Needs TableGOAL 1 GOAL 2 GOAL 3 GOAL 4

HR Social Media Contract Law Product Development

Contract Law Sales Publishing Operations Management

Mediation PR Procurement Contract Management

A sample Strategic Needs Table, listing strategic goals and the skill sets needed to execute the strategies involved. Note that contract expertise is useful for more than one goal, meaning that particular skill-set should be a priority:

Current Board InventoryPRIORITY CONTRACT REAL ESTATE BANKING/ ARCHITECTURAL/SKILL SETS: LAW LOANS CONSTRUCTION

A. Jones x x H. Smith xL. Pursel

P. Nano xJ. Tampa xG. Glass x x

A sample Current Board Inventory, listing current board members in the left-hand column and skill-sets needed across the top row. Note that no one in this list possesses expertise in contract law, meaning this is a skill-set you should look for in your next board recruit:

create a prioritized list of skills, talents, and connections you must seek in the next board members you recruit.”

Who you wantYou should also take time to decide what you want in your next recruit, because you are creating a board culture as much as you’re seeking skills—and it won’t matter how many strategic needs a par-ticular candidate fills if there’s no cultural fit. “If they can’t connect with your or-ganization, chances are they won’t stick around long enough make an impact,” says Beavor, and the research backs her up. (Recall that 20-point jump in the importance of “loyalty to and respect for the organization” to board members who stick with the position.) To come up with a list of desired cultural attributes, Beavor suggests thinking about the foundational values of your organization, the work style of your staff and programs, and the qualities you most appreciate in the board members you have. These might include an affinity for improvisation (or for long-term plan-ning); an attitude of positivity and agree-ableness (or skepticism and challenge);

“IF THEY CAN’T CONNECT WITH YOUR ORGANIZATION, CHANCES ARE THEY WON’T STICK AROUND LONG ENOUGH TO MAKE AN IMPACT.”

Thomas AsherPresident, The Rich FoundationBoard Chair, MedShare“Opening my eyes to the great healthcare needs of the rest of the world,

Ed ShartarManaging Director, Diversified SearchBoard Chair, Georgia Center for Nonprofits“Applying what I have learned over the last 30 years about leading busi-nesses and people. I feel I am able to touch hun-dreds of organizations, and through them touch hundreds of thousands of individuals, in ways that make their lives better.”

What a board wants, what a board needs: A COMPLETE ASSESSMENT IN THREE TABLES

Jaimie HardinFounder, Hardin and Associates ConsultingBoard Chair, Moving in the Spirit“I am inspired every day by the work done by our dedicated and talented co-founder and ED, Dana Lupton, and our amazing faculty, staff, and board. Our students also inspire me in the way they deal with the challenges in their lives, and continue to thrive and be positive. I can’t help but feel proud when I see our students growing into confident, responsible, motivat-ed, kind, and creative leaders.”

and the incredibly positive impact that this Atlanta company is making among thousands of people worldwide using the surplus of medical supplies here at home. Actually saving lives: what a reward that is!”

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A sample Recruit Attributes Chart, listing recruitment possibilities in the left-hand column, and desired attributes across the top row. From this chart, it’s easy to see that Candidate A and Candidate E make the best “fit” with regards to the qualities you want in a board member:

Dr. Patrick Ebri Vice President of Human Resources, Southeast Georgia Health System Board Chair, Golden Isles Career Academy“Being part of a dynamic board with a passion for GICA and our local community, and contributing positively to the formative decisions of the young and impressionable citizens of Glynn County, has been extremely fulfilling. It is very gratifying to know that you have opened the eyes of a young, inquiring student to a great opportunity that they may have otherwise missed.”

a certain geographic reach; a kind of diversity (racial, gender, socioeconomic, political); a particular community con-nection; or the ability to make a personal gift, or to get others to give. “At one nonprofit we work with,” says Beavor, “the key attribute is ’nice.’ That’s their code for assertive and positive, rath-er than contentious or argumentative.” Once you’ve decided on these key attributes, you can create a Recruit Attri-butes Chart, much like the Current Board Inventory, accounting for these qualities in the candidates you interview. With that table, you can prioritize recruits who fulfill the same skill-set by their “fit”: that is, how many cultural attributes one mar-keting expert fulfills compared to the other marketing experts you’re interviewing.

Recruit Attributes Chart HAS TIME RACIAL GEOGRAPHIC CONTACTS TO ASSERTIVE/ MISSION DIVERSITY REACH MONEY POSITIVE ATTACHMENT CANDIDATES

Banking/loansCandidate A. x x x x xCandidate B. x x xCandidate C. x x x x

AttorneyCandidate D. x x x Candidate E. x x x x x xCandidate F. x x

Helene LollisPresident, Pathbuilders, Inc.Board Chair, Junior Achievement of Georgia “A role that focuses on a mission for which I am pas-sionate, allows me to grow personally and professional-ly, and that positions me and my company in a positive way. Being constantly challenged to provide focus and clarity to individuals with diverse views, drive engage-ment and enthusiasm for the mission, and challenge the organization to achieve all that it can.”

Susannah BalishSenior Manager, Cox CommunicationsBoard Chair, Ferst Foundation“The unique opportunity to lead our organization in our mission to transform the lives of children. I believe so strongly that the foundational key to life success is childhood literacy, and have seen first-hand the powerful change that comes about through Ferst’s literacy program. There is nothing better than how you feel when you’ve changed the lives of children in a sustained way, and I am so grateful to Ferst for the opportunity as chair to receive this reward.”

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Mark DroegeSVP, Treasury and Corporate Services, Earthlink (retired)Board Chair, kidz2leaders“What I have learned, and been surprised by, is how much difference an organization like kidz2leaders can make in a child’s life. With programs like Camp Hope, mentoring, and interns4tomorrow, kidz2leaders has countless examples of success in turning lives around or keeping children of prisoners from repeating the cycle of incarceration.”

Once you have a sense of who you’re looking for, you need to know where to look. GCN Senior Affiliate Consultant Jack Beckford, in his work with individual nonprofits and at events like GCN’s recent Nonprofit Board Leadership Clinic and the Clayton Nonprofit Forum, encourages nonprofits to begin recruitment efforts with those closest to the organization. It helps, he says, to think in concentric circles, with your nonprofit at the center. “In the first circle are your members and volunteers—those closest to your organization,” says Beckford. “Because they already have a strong relationship with you and your work, and have already made a commitment of time and energy to it, they are most likely to be receptive to your efforts and to make a good fit.” The next circle out are your donors and supporters. This pool already has knowl-edge of your organization and has helped out in a concrete way, meaning they’ve already made a connection and might be ready for a greater role. “You may not be able to fill your board with close friends, but it’s always better if there’s an element of familiarity: if they know you, and you know them,” says Beckford. (Though he’s sometimes asked if it’s better to get an outside perspective—someone unfamiliar with your methods, who might provide more critical assessment—Beckford thinks this underestimates your close allies: “If you’re dealing with responsible, intelligent people, they’re not going to

“YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO FILL YOUR BOARD WITH CLOSE FRIENDS, BUT IT’S ALWAYS BETTER IF THERE’S AN ELEMENT OF FAMILIARITY—IF THEY KNOW YOU, AND YOU KNOW THEM.”

become yes-men just because they’re friends of the organization.”) The outer circles consist of contacts in your current board members’ networks (where the majority of your candidate ideas are likely to come up, as it’s typi-cally the board’s responsibility to develop recruitment leads), followed by leaders and advocates working in the same issue area (those familiar with the work, but not necessarily your organization). Beyond these circles of familiarity are areas Beckford compares to “internet dating” for board members: less reliable, but with the potential for an incredible match. That’s especially true if you know where to look: board member develop-ment programs such as the United Way’s V.I.P. initiative and the Atlanta Women’s Foundation’s “Women On Board;” online listings, including GCN’s own Opportunity Knocks, as well as professional sites like LinkedIn; parties and other events; and professional associations for those with the skills you prioritized through your Strategic Needs Assessment. It also helps to create a job description detailing exactly what the recruit will be assisting with, and giving it to each exist-ing board and staff member, as well as any close friend of the organization. That way, your lead-generators know exactly who to look for, and can provide a proper introduction on both sides.

Bringing them on boardOf course, all of this is just preparation for your real work with the board: em-powering your organization to fulfill all the promise of its mission. From here, it’s up to you to develop a purposeful, intentional plan that takes advantage of all the skills and strengths your new board member possesses. For an idea of what an effec-tive board member leadership plan looks like, and can accomplish, we’ve invited our friends at member nonprofit Moving in the Spirit to share the story of their successful board makeover.

Marc Schultz is managing editor of NOW.

WHERE TO FIND THEM

Daniel Wolff Owner, CoProTech-Inc.Board President, Alliance Française d’Atlanta“The privilege to meet and interact with some amazing people from around the world, the opportunity to work with fellow board members who have brought their experience and knowledge to many different areas of our organization, and personally connecting with the guests, speakers, and artists who have been part of the cultural and linguistic offerings of the Alliance.”

Sonjui L. KumarFounding Partner, Law, Kumar, Prabhu, Patel & Banerjee, LLCBoard Chair, Asian Ameri-can Legal Advocacy Center“I thought I knew what was going on in the Asian com-munity in Georgia, but I had

no idea how many different organizations that are out there. AALAC is so involved with each of these groups that I have a much better understanding about the depth and complexity of our community. I have been exposed to so many people, and invited to so many events—it’s been amazing.”

Heath SlapikasAdvertising Director, The Brunswick NewsBoard Chair, Red Cross, Southeastern Coastal Georgia Chapter“It’s extremely rewarding to work with an organization that is able to bring comfort

and peace to individuals in some of their darkest hours. Most people think of blood donations and national disas-ters, but may not realize that we offer health and safety programs, support for deployed military families, and local domestic disasters such as floods and house fires. The Red Cross is always there when we as a community need it most, so I want to make sure I am there when they need me.”

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John HarbinLegal Secretary, King & SpaldingBoard Chair, Voices for Georgia’s Children“Learning about how signif-icant the issues that Voices addresses are—not only to

children but to all of us—and, more importantly, how much impact one individual and one group can have by focusing relentlessly on solutions.”

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BOARD RESOURCESFROM GCN

TOOLSSolution Set: Guide to Good Governance Our in-depth toolkit, including work-sheets, checklists, and templates, organized around key topic areas in non-profit governance: core competencies, legal duties, roles and responsibilities, committees, risk management, board development and evaluation.

Research: Board Member Motivation at Georgia Non-profits Our latest study provides insight into what drives board service, as well as demographic and psychographic data, from our survey of more than 700 Geor-gia board members. 

Research: Georgia Nonprofit Governance IndexGCN’s landmark study, conducted in partnership with The Home Depot Foundation, provides an pragmatic inside view of current gov-ernance policies at Georgia nonprofits, il-luminating the chal-lenges and opportu-nities facing leaders working to ensure board effectiveness,

as well as the best practices that keep high-performing boards humming.

ARTICLESA Better Board in Four StepsIn this four-part se-ries, GCN’s Nonprofit Consulting Group team gives you a systemic approach to developing a fully-functioning board capable of handling its gover-nance responsibil-ities efficiently and effectively.

The Number One Rule for Powerful Board Fundraising Jump-start your board fundraising mojo by getting them to follow one simple rule: Boards should lead the way. GCN’s Nonprofit Consult-ing Group VP Cindy Cheatham shows you why your board mem-bers should be first to give, first to cultivate, and first to ask.

Board-CEO Leader-ship ConversationsOur ongoing NOW series of leadershipdialogues features CEO-board chairduos at Bobby Dodd Institute, AtlantaBallet, and, in this issue, Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta.

NONPROFIT UNIVERSITYCertificate of Nonprofit Board GovernanceStarting this fall: prepare for a leadership role with a sound understanding of core board governance principles and practices. Our an-nual series features four sessions, focusing on the essentials that drive nonprofit board success.

Nonprofit Board Leadership ClinicComing in fall 2014: our annual, all-day, im-mersive peer learning and networking expe-rience is for board and staff leaders looking for knowledge, skills, and resources to tackle real-world governance challenges.

THE GATEWAY TO GCN’S GROWING SUITE OF GOVERNANCE RESOURCES IS GCN.ORG/BOARDS. THERE, YOU’LL BE ABLE TO ACCESS OUR FULL ARCHIVE OF BOARD-RELATED ARTICLES, FROM PAST ISSUES OF NOW AND OUR MONTHLY E-NEWS-LETTERS, AS WELL AS TOOLKITS, RESEARCH REPORTS, PODCASTS, UPCOMING TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES, AND MORE—INCLUDING:

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NONPROFIT CONSULTING GROUPGCN’s consulting team has experience advising hundreds of organizations to improve their governance through customized training and coaching.

Our approach: to jumpstart your board’s development process by building understanding of how strategy, processes, structure, and training make a high-performing board. Starting with an in-depth assessment, we then develop a plan for comprehensive board development to help restart a board, take it to the next level, or work on a targeted process such as board growth and recruitment.

We also facilitate custom board trainings and facilitations to work on specific goals or issues, and we plan and facilitate productive board retreats to work on organizational planning, review board roles, and get the board focused and organized in support of the organization.

Learn more at GCN.org/consulting or contact Cindy Cheatham at consulting@gcn.org or 678-916-3012.

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BOARD OR SUPERBOARDThe engaged board member difference at Moving in the Spirit.

By Dana Lupton and Heather Infantry

Moving in the Spirit’s Boys in Motion performing in “Between Worlds” at the Rialto Center for the Arts at Georgia State University. ©JD Scott Photography

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At GCN’s annual Board Leadership Clinic, two leaders

at member nonprofit Moving in the Spirit—a youth

development organization that uses dance to

transform kids into leaders—brought a room of

executive directors and board members to their feet

while teaching them how to achieve an engaged,

active board—and what’s possible when you do.

We all know a functioning board is essential to a nonprofit’s success, yet many organizations struggle with how to engage this well-meaning group of volunteers. At Moving in the Spirit, we experienced this challenge. That’s because time wasn’t being made to get to know board members, to challenge them, to check in with them, and more importantly, to celebrate them. A board engagement process, like the one we have used for five years, goes beyond improving metrics like participation and finances (though that’s a vital part!): It’s made the overall board experience a joy. We genuinely look forward to board meetings, and we’ve got a development committee putting “fun” back in fundraising. Instead of “So who has to go to this event?”, we hear, “Oh, I want to go to that one!” and “I’ll drive!” In short, our board members are having a blast while furthering our mission. If you want a vibrant, healthy organization, you need an engaged board, and the only way to get an engaged board is by investing in them. For us, that means focusing on three things: the relationship, the expectations, and the assessment.

The RelationshipAs an executive director, you must know every one of your board members on a personal basis. Their phone numbers should be in your cell phone. You should know what’s going on in their lives, the motives driving them to volunteer for your organization, and the circumstances affecting their volunteer work. And that’s just the start: as you continue to work together your relationship will grow, benefitting everyone involved. After all, relationships are what we’re living for, and a board member with a personal bond to the organization is someone who will go the distance for it. We start working on the relationship from the very beginning with a deliberate vetting process that can take up to 18 months. When someone is recommended by our team, the first step is a lunch with the ED, to start getting to know the candidate and her interests; if the intersection between her story and the organi-zation’s seems strong, then we’ll invite the candidate to tour our theater, attend an event, and sit in on a class for an on-the-ground sense of what we do. Then she’ll meet with our board chair, and only after that —when we’ve both invested a pretty good amount of time, not knowing if the invitation will be extended (or accepted) —is the candidate invited to submit a letter of intent and presented to the board. The letter of intent tells us what a prospective board member thinks she has to give, and what she hopes to gain in return. That’s the beginning of the Leadership Plan—our tool for cementing everyone’s expectations, and making sure we have goals to work toward, discuss, and celebrate throughout the year.

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14Georgia Nonprofit NOW

The ExpectationsOur board has always been an incredibly intelligent, talented, loving, and hard-work-ing group, but they didn’t always have the structure—the specific roadmap—they needed to be a successful, high-perform-ing board. That’s why we introduced the Leadership Plan, which came directly from our work with teens. Our Outreach Direc-tor, Dr. Charné Fucron-Mack, noticed that the students in our program, like our board members, had a strong desire to grow as leaders but needed a path to do so. The solution we designed is a joint process for developing a written development plan, promoting self-evaluation and self-moti-vated change. We quickly realized it was exactly the mechanism we needed to get our board firing on all cylinders. The idea behind the Leadership Plan is to make sure all expectations are laid out and agreed upon before a board member begins her tenure. Otherwise, you’re set-ting yourself up for disappointment. It’s not enough for a board member to say, “I want to be a champion for the Men in Motion program.” In my mind, that might mean she comes to every Men in Motion perfor-mance, that she brings friends and kids to explore the possibility of participating, that she’s promoting it to her networks; while in her mind, it might mean scoring a $10,000 donation. Both those expectations are equally exciting; they just miss each other. The Leadership Plan is a way to align our expectations in order to create a spectacular experience for everyone. It’s comprised of a set of goals related to our strategic plan, with a concrete plan to achieve those goals—one that includes specific action steps, a timetable, and a way to measure progress. We work collaboratively on developing the Leadership Plan, with an open, honest conversation about that board member’s interests, strengths, and capacity. In that conversation, you might discover a board member wants to try a project contrary to what they do professionally. We’ve had finance folks who serve on the develop-ment committee finding greater satis-faction hosting a fundraising dinner then doing the audit review. We also discuss the kind of support that board member will need from the or-ganization, including staff involvement; at Moving in the Spirit, we assign each board member a staff person whose job it is to

support the board member in achieving her goals. Staff members are also encouraged to develop their own personal relationships with the board. The result is a framework that everyone can refer back to throughout the year, and which serves as the basis of each mid-year and year-end assessment.

The AssessmentWe make a point to monitor each board member’s progress throughout the year: at board meetings, over the phone, through our calendars (which are all linked), and through our volunteer coordinator. We track hours, we stay abreast, we celebrate steps taken, and we always make a point to give “Sunshine,” an act of affirmation we use with our students and faculty as well, in which team members pair up to express appreciation for another’s work, support, and dedication, without being afraid to get specific and personal. In fact, we set aside time at each board meeting for everyone to give Sunshine to each other. Honest and direct feedback, however, is absolutely critical to engaging board members. As nonprofit leaders, we can sometimes shy away from critiquing board members because we know they’re busy professionals, volunteering highly valuable time and expertise. That’s something we need to get over. To help, we make the mid-year assessment more of a celebra-tion than an evaluation: a time for us to thank each board member for the gifts they’ve contributed, to check in, and to discuss the work before us. If we’ve invested time in the relation-ship, then we should know about any successes or issues by the time we get to the mid-year check-in, and certainly by the end-of-year assessment. If there are issues, we talk them over and revise the Leadership Plan by asking some simple questions: Was this goal realistic? Is the plan too involved, given what’s going on in the board member’s life? The point is to make the assessment a conversation—an extension of the relation-ship—but also to give everyone a struc-tured way to measure progress. During the assessment, both the ED and the board member rate the board member’s perfor-mance on each strategic goal using a scale of 1 to 10: How I think she did, and how she thinks she did. Then we’ll discuss any differences and what, for example, could

1Discuss interests and strengths.

2Looking at where in-terests and strengths align, develop a set of goals for the year. These goals should all follow the SMART rubric: Specific, Mea-surable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time bound.

3Create at least one action step for every goal. These should be practical, and as specific as possible.

4Decide on a timetable for achieving each goal.

5Come up with an evaluation method for each goal—that is, how you will measure what’s been accom-plished.

6 It’s also helpful for everyone to discuss the kinds of support your board member will need to fulfill their goals, including technical consider-ations and personnel to involve.

6 STEPS to a Leadership Plan

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have made a 7 into a 10—which could be as broad as, “I missed a few meetings,” or as specific as, “I wanted to exceed my fundraising target.” And at the end of each year, we decide which ongoing goals we want to continue, and consider new goals rooted in the strategic plan. More importantly, and more frequently, the assessment is helpful in reminding board members of their contributions. Sometimes board members rate them-selves harshly, but when we look back on what they have done, more often than not they exceed expectations. Everything is documented and passed on to our board chair so she is fully in-formed about the challenges and accom-plishments of her team.

The Engaged Board DifferenceBoard members are a powerful resource: they propel everything your nonprofit does.

It’s the responsibility of every ED to make sure her board functions well. If the only time you interact with them, or they inter-act with each other, is at your bimonthly board meetings, you’ve got to rethink your role as a partner in leadership. You’ve got to find the time to understand each board member as an individual, with her own life, priorities, and goals. And you’ve got to encourage board members to be just as familiar with each other. If it sounds like a lot, it is. If it feels overwhelming, it should. But it’s worth it. One good place to start: at Moving in the Spirit, we schedule social time before each board meeting (not after!) for members to chat with each other, our staff, and the young people we serve. Keep in mind: Re-lationships are fundamental. Everything—the Leadership Plan, the evaluation, and the important work your board does—is an extension of the bond you build.

Moving in the Spirit’s Junior Company leads an inspiring finale in “Between Worlds,” performed on May 2, 2013 at the Rialto Center for the Arts at Georgia State University. ©JD Scott Photography

Work to make your board more active, accountable, and passionate about their work, and they’ll push your organization to fulfill every bit of its promise—and they’ll thank you for the opportunity to be a part of it.

Dana Lupton is co-founder, Executive Director, and Artistic Director at Moving in the Spirit, as well as a per-former and teacher of dance.

Heather Infantry is Development Director and Major Gifts Officer at Moving in the Spirit, and serves on the board of Whitefoord, Inc.

interview

ANOTHER TERM OF SERVICE

Image courtesy of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution © Bob Andres

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interview

Just a few days after his January 6, 2014 inauguration, Mayor Reed talked with GCN CEO Karen Beavor about the long history and renewed vitality of Atlanta’s commit-ment to service, the progress his adminis-tration has seen as a result, and the oppor-tunities for more nonprofit partnerships in his second term.

Karen Beavor: In your inauguration address, you said that you see Atlanta as a “city on a hill,” one that embraces its “sacred responsibility as a community of caring people.” Tell us a little bit more about what you meant.

Mayor Kasim Reed: I believe Atlanta is a very intentional city. I think that in critical times in the life of the city of Atlanta, certainly since the 1950s on, and even before that, we were fortunate to have caring individuals in the political commu-nity, business community, and in the civic and philanthropic community who made the right decision at the right time. If you look at our city’s history, certainly during

the tumultuous times of the late 1950s of the 1960s, for a southern city, Atlanta was very forward thinking.

I think that has a great deal to do with the fact that we had very enlightened elected leaders like Mayor Hartsfield, Mayor Ivan Allen, and subsequently Mayor Maynard Jackson. And we had very forward-thinking business leaders, such as the founder of Coca-Cola Company, Robert Woodruff, and a list of his successors. If you recall, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. won the Noble Peace Prize, the chairman of Coca-Cola hosted a reception for him and invited the leaders of the business community and philanthropic community in Atlanta. That was a very important event—maybe the most significant integrated event in the life of the city. When Bull Conner and others were making different decisions in Bir-mingham, Ala., which used to be a larger, more prosperous city than Atlanta, Mayor Ivan Allen went to Washington to testify in favor of the Civil Rights Act.

We have a history of thoughtful leaders who care about making our city better and more humane. And I think that caring about each other is a value that is a part of Atlanta’s DNA. We need to constantly fo-cus on how we convene that, and how we need to do it, but doing it is something we should do—whether that is mentoring a young person or investing in young college students, having a homeless reduction program that houses more than a thou-sand people, or opening recreation centers where we now help more than a thousand kids in any given week, or raising money for the United Negro College Fund—where we typically raise more than $1 million a

year—I think all of these are areas that we need to be engaged in, that send a mes-sage to the broader community.

Beavor: What role do you see the nonprofit sector playing in that vision of a city of a hill?

Mayor Reed: I think the future is very bright, because our government has engaged with the nonprofit sector as a partner, which is a force multiplier—really putting the energy, passion and drive that are contained in city government into our nonprofit partners.

We have a strong partnership in the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Atlanta, who assist

When Bull Conner and others were making different decisions in Birmingham, Ala., Mayor Ivan Allen went to Washington to testify in favor of the Civil Rights Act.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed spent a busy first term grappling with ongoing challenges inherited from earlier administrators: filling out an understaffed police force, reforming the city’s unfunded pension liability, and turning around a $48 million budget shortfall. But he also found time—and startup funds, through the nationwide Cities of Service initiative—to make an impressive renewal of the city’s commitment to service: creating a cabinet-level Chief Service Officer position to head up five new service initiatives dedicated to educating and empowering youth, revitalizing neighborhoods, and promoting environmental sustainability. The result is a string of high-impact projects—including the reopening of all 33 city recreation centers as hubs of learning, growing, and community-building—and created powerful new partner-ships with Atlanta nonprofits like Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students and GCN member Boys & Girls Club of Metro Atlanta.

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us in the Centers of Hope initiative. We partner with GEEARS (Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students) on getting every kid to read by third grade, through the Mayor’s Summer Reading Club. We’re partnered with the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta and several neighborhood foundations for the Love Your Block initiative. In three years we raised $1 million or more with the United Negro College Fund, and we are a key partner with the United Way of Greater Atlanta in their giving campaign. So all of those are areas where we are directly engaged, every single day, and we welcome any and all who want to give us help and a hand.

Just in the recreation center space alone, an initiative called Centers of Hope, we have more than $5 million in private philanthropy that’s been directed to reopening 33 recre-ation centers in the city of Atlanta.

We made the fiscal decision not just to have recreation centers as warehouses for kids, but that we were going to provide high quality programming, that we were going to get strong partners, to make sure that young people have an alternative to getting involved in crime. Since then, we have seen crime reductions of more than 25% among teens in the city of Atlanta. This is an initiative that we are most proud of.

Beavor: I think that commitment has been a huge motivator, particularly when you created that Chief Service Officer position. Why do you think that role, and nonprofit partnership, is critical in your administration?

Mayor Reed: If you really do care about something, you have to have a competent person to organize the effort and work on it every single day. You don’t want a

temporary solution to long-term problems or long-term relationships. That’s why Amy Phuong isn’t just the Chief Service Officer, she is also a member of my cabinet—so she is able to get a global perspective of what the city of Atlanta is doing in a variety of areas. She also gives the nonprofit com-munity a “one-stop shop” to decide how they would like to engage with the city.

I believe we send a clear, unmistakable message to the nonprofit community, that if you want a strong partner, someone who has similar values and a strong sense of mission, then the doors to the city of At-lanta are open. And I hope the people who read this article will know that we have a highly qualified leader in the form of Amy Phuong, who works at this every day.

Beavor: You travel a lot. How do you think Atlanta’s nonprofit sector compares with other cities’? What do we do well? What can we improve on?

Mayor Reed: I think Atlanta’s nonprofit [sec-tor] is the strongest in the southeast, and one of the leading nonprofit communities in the United States of America.

In terms of what we do very well, I think we solve complex problems, and stay at it. When you look at our nonprofit communi-ty, most of our charitable giving has been directed and continuous. That shows a toughness, a commitment to solving com-plex problems. That is rare in this age of short-term satisfaction. At the same time, I think we need to look to support new ideas, and to be open to more innovation. I would like to see Atlanta play a greater role as we begin to explore “social impact bonds,” which is a tool that is gathering support in other cities around the world and in major cities in the U.S.

I think we have a vibrant nonprofit commu-nity. Obviously we are the home to you all, home of The Boys & Girls Club of America, CARE, which is one of the leading service delivery organization in the world, Points of Lights, Habitat for Humanity, and Hands on Network, among others. That really speaks to who we are.

Lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

We made the fiscal decision that we were going to provide high quality programming, that we were going to get strong partners, to make sure that young people have an alternative to getting involved in crime.

interview

18Georgia Nonprofit NOW

Caring about each other is a value that is a part of Atlanta’s DNA.

leadership

TRUST AND TRANSITION AT RRISAIn the third installment of our Board Chair-CEO conversation series, I dive into the practices of a highly engaged and effective board, the team at GCN member Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta (RRISA). I had the pleasure of observing them in action while facilitating a recent partnership project, the exciting results of which RRISA just announced: a plan to merge with fellow GCN member Refugee Family Services. Below, RRISA Executive Director Paedia Mixon and Board Chair Judy Clements reveal the importance of trust, honesty, and engagement while undergoing a radical organizational shift like a merger, or a more typical shift, like the transition from a founding board to a working board.

By Cindy Cheatham

Mixonclements

19No. 7 | Winter 2014

At a practical level, how would you describe your working relationship as a board chair and CEO, and how do you think about the way you work together on behalf of RRISA?

Board Chair Judy Clements: It’s really defined by a high level of trust on my and the board’s part [regarding] what Paedia does and is able to do. We try not to get in her hair, but we are very interested in the high-level operation of the agency and, as you know, we are a pretty hands-on board. One of our responsibilities is to evaluate how she does, but as a general rule, we trust her, and have a very close relationship, and haven’t had any conflict since she settled into her job—after the first six months or so.

Executive Director Paedia Mixon: Judy and I have breakfast every month, just to make sure we’re checking in. We have a staff member who provides a report of what’s going on to the board every week via email. I think that communication is big, and also that feeling that we are partners, that we are doing this work together. So I’ve never felt an adversarial relationship, because we’re all rooting for the same thing.

It’s interesting that you’ve trusted your staff to do a good amount of communications with the board. Have there been any challenges in that process, in the board over-step-ping or the staff being confused about how to work with the board?

Mixon: I haven’t seen that happen. I think [everything’s] very well defined. Our De-velopment Director is, obviously, the staff liaison for fundraising and events, and our CFO is the staff liaison for the finance com-mittee. We have a Development Coordina-tor who handles communication for RRISA, so she’s very good at putting together our concise board report every week.

Clements: The board really appreciates that level of access to the staff, but none of that gets the board involved in pro-grams. And I think that’s important, that we not meddle in, programmatically, what the staff is doing.

What are your thoughts in terms of your roles developing and support-ing an effective board?

Clements: That’s harder. A lot of it goes back to who we select to be on the board. Sometimes we’ve made good calls on that, and sometimes we have not. But if we select people who are truly interested, and truly understand their role, and have the time to be involved, then we’ve had some really good [successes]. If they’re people who are overwhelmed, or got on the board for the wrong reasons, just to fill out their resume—who kind of like the mission, but aren’t really committed to it—it’s almost impossible to convert a marginal board member to a really active board member.

Mixon: I think another part is that, once [you recruit] people with that passion, you have to be able to provide them a way to do real work. You have to have something for them to do. In the beginning, that was

a challenge, and I think we’ve gotten much better at really taking advantage of the great talent on the board. Judy is actually very good at taking stock, and touching base with people, and making sure they’re committed to the mission. She’s a very pleasant task master in that sense.

What’s an example of meaningful ways board members have engaged in the mission that might not have been as obvious, or intentional?

Mixon: As you know, we are going through a merger, and our board has been very active in working with the board of Refugee Family Services. I’ve seen a lot of board members come alive in the process of figuring out what this new board is going to look like, and how it’s going to work using experience from the past. That’s been a really positive experience, a lot of board members have really stepped up in that process. It seems like once somebody is positively engaged, then they have more ideas and participate in everything in a bigger way.

Did you have, in that merger pro-cess, a crisis moment when you asked yourselves, “Are we going to have the bandwidth and energy to really do this thing?

Clements: No, we did not have a situation like that over the merger. I’ll tell you what we have had that situation with though—at least twice—was over putting on a big fundraising event. But the merger was not like that!

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“The big learning curve: how to communicate effectively with the board, and how to utilize others members of the staff to make sure that communication is flowing even when I’m very, very busy.”RRISA AND REFUGEE FAMILY

SERVICES BEGAN EXPLORING THE POSSIBILITY OF A MERGER IN DECEMBER 2012, AND WILL BE FULLY INTEGRATED BY OCTOBER 2014.

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Mixon: What we did was submit an application for a Community Foundation grant around partnership, and before we submitted it, we held a meeting with key members from both boards. It was a really late-into-the-night meeting, and we really got everybody’s buy-in before we even submitted the proposal. So I think including the board early, and talking through issues early, really helped.

Have any challenging situations test-ed your ED-board chair relationship, or put you directly in conflict, and, if so, how did you manage?

Mixon: When I first became director, I was following the founder of the organiza-tion. We were very much, as a board and organization, at that place of transition, from a founding board to a working board. Transitioning from one person’s vision to a sustainable organization, that process for me was very rewarding, and I learned a lot, but it was challenging. Our board has changed a lot going through that transition, and we really made it out the other side. Judy as a board chair was a great partner in that process.

“Transitioning from one person’s vision to a sustainable organiza-tion, that process for me was very rewarding, and I learned a lot, but it was challenging.”

As a true high performing board, with a good partnership among chair and CEO, what advice would you offer to others to strengthen those important working relationships?

Mixon: [Training] is very important. I think that, like a lot of directors in the same sit-uation as I was, I got a lot of great training after I was already involved. Any chance

to go to training on how to work with the board, and to use sources such as Board-Source, have been very helpful. We also went through a very intentional process for recruiting board members, and recruited quite a few at the same time. That was great, to think ahead of time for what we were looking for.

Clements: One of things I would advise is not to keep the executive director and chair relationship exclusive. Give the other board members access to the executive director, encourage them to develop a re-lationship with her. [They’ll] have more of an emotional stake in its success, and be better prepared to take a leadership role.

Mixon: I also think, especially coming into the position at a time of financial hardships, transparency and disclosure is very important. [Since] the beginning, I really wanted to be held accountable to the board, and in order to have [that, the board needs] to be really well informed. We have a CFO who does a phenomenal job of financial reporting to the board, and has a way of explaining things in a way that are easily understandable. You have to be very honest, and clear, and have good support on your staff.

Lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

Cindy Cheatham is vice president of GCN’s Nonprofit Consulting Group.

Thank you, American Express, for your generous support of GCN’s High Potential Diverse Leaders program. Since 2008, more than 150 “rising stars” at Georgia nonprofit organizations have participated in this unique leadership development opportunity, a six-part series presented by Nonprofit University™ that prepares them to assume executive-level careers in the sector.

The HPDL Class of 2014 begins on May 6. Learn more at GCN.org/HPDL.

22Georgia Nonprofit NOW

fundraising

In their book Getting to Giving: Fundraising the Entrepreneurial Way, author Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business School Professor Emeritus, and co-author Shirley Spence, stress the importance of an approach to fundraising that includes understanding donor motivations.

As major gifts have become more important to nonprofit success, and large donors are increasingly sought after, some donors have responded by becoming more sophisticated in their philanthropic decision-making. Others are just confused, even overwhelmed: Who should I support? Meanwhile, nonprofit leaders wonder: How can we compete? How can we survive and thrive? The fact is that large donors have many places to invest their dollars. Why should someone give to your organization, and to the particular giving opportunity you may be proposing? In our experience, people—especially affluent people—are sincerely interested in making an impact on something they consider important—not just getting a tax break. As one generous donor (who’s also a great fundraiser) observed: “I’ve found that there are many more people with resources looking for meaning, than people with meaning looking for resources. As a nonprofit, you create meaning by raising money.” Your challenge is to convince a potential donor that your organization is uniquely positioned (or at least extremely well positioned) to address a problem

that he or she cares about deeply—to turn their raw resources into meaningful results. The secret is not just targeting people who share your mission, but making sure they understand your organization will be a responsible, effective, and appreciative steward of their gifts. That will require addressing four key questions that every smart donor asks:

Are you doing important work?

Are you well managed?

Will my gift make a difference?

Will the experience be satisfying to me?

The first two questions are about your organization, and the second two are about the giving. The most important question of all is the first: Are you doing important work? Of course, what they mean by that is: Are you doing what I consider to be important work? If your mission holds no interest for them, don’t waste your time trying to convince them. Assuming they’re interested, even enthused, they’re still not going to toss their money into a black hole. Most people, unfortunately, have heard stories about nonprofit mismanagement; some have even seen it firsthand. So the next question to anticipate is: Are you well managed? You have to take the question seriously, offering a clear economic model and financial transparency.

If you can get over that hurdle, attention will turn to how the money will be used: Will my gift make a difference? Most people who give a significant gift are truly interested in making a positive impact. They want reassurance not only that their money won’t be wasted, but that it will be

used effectively. Can you demonstrate the impact of your work, with metrics and compelling stories? And, finally: Will the experience be satisfying to me? This is the question you start answering from the moment you meet a prospective donor, and that you keep answering through the receipt of the gift—and, hopefully, for much, much longer than that, as part of an ongoing relationship (with regularly-scheduled donations). The experience of National Public Radio regarding Joan Kroc, wife of the founder of McDonald’s Corporation, is instructive: After Ray Kroc’s death in 1984, Mrs. Kroc inherited his fortune and turned her attention to philanthropy. A staunch supporter of an informed civic society, she believed in the power of public radio. When Mrs. Kroc began planning her bequests, she approached NPR executives regarding a gift. They were startled—and delighted—and immediately flew to San Diego to meet with her. Mrs. Kroc quickly made it clear that she would insist on an extensive due-diligence process. Was the organization well managed? How could it guarantee that her bequest would be used in accordance with her wishes, in perpetuity? NPR evidently cleared these hurdles. When Mrs. Kroc died in 2003, her will specified substantial gifts to a number of familiar institutions. But there were

BEFORE THE BIG ASK:FOUR QUESTIONS YOU MUST ANSWER

W H A T D O N O R S N E E D T O K N O W B E F O R E M A K I N G A S I G N I F I C A N T G I F T

By Howard Stevenson and Shirley Spence

1

2

3

4

ASSUMING THEY’RE INTERESTED, EVEN ENTHUSED, THEY’RE STILL NOT GOING TO TOSS THEIR MONEY INTO A BLACK HOLE.

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several new beneficiaries, as well. NPR received more than $200 million, and an additional $5 million went to a member station in San Diego. NPR executives heard later that Mrs. Kroc had initially approached another public media group, but found its responsiveness lacking. If true, that other organization made a $200 million mistake. All four of the questions outlined above had to be answered to Mrs. Kroc’s satisfaction before she would make a gift. My cardinal rule is: Be prepared to answer all four questions, even if they’re not all explicitly posed. Why? Because, from the donor’s perspective, they combine to tell a compelling story. So ask these questions of your organization, and make sure that you are personally satisfied with the answers. You have to be convinced before you can hope to convince anyone else.

Howard Stevenson is an entrepreneur,

Fundraising—I often tell people—is the best career I’ve ever had. Most often, I make that statement in response to an assertion like, “How can you stand to do fundraising? It’s so unpleasant!” Fundraising offers us a tremendous opportunity to make the world a better place, while creating a deeply satisfying experience. In short, the work I’m doing makes me proud: I’m supporting a cause I’m personally committed to, and helping like-minded donors do the same. That said, I can understand why fundraising has become grist for the cartoonist’s mill, and why so many people seem to hate it. For many people—board members, for example, and even some executive directors and development professionals—fundraising feels like begging, and a “no” feels like the most likely outcome. When I began fundraising, I was told to expect a 25 percent closing rate—one in four—with my major gift prospects. What I learned was that you can do far better than that. If you’ve done your homework, people say “yes” more often than not. Through personal experience and close observation of good (and not-so-good) practices, I’ve learned a few things about being effective and comfortable as a fundraising leader. Here are my top five:

It’s not about you. Fundraising shouldn’t be about you person-ally, or even your institution. It should be about what your organization can do in the world, in partnership with a donor.

Everyone’s a fundraiser. Your organization, top to bottom, is a sales team. Because donor interactions can be-gin with anyone, every staff member and volunteer must believe in your mission, and feel like a part of fundraising efforts.

You’re the model. Look at your own attitudes and behaviors, because people are taking their cues from you. Remember: a leader is someone people want to follow.

To be good leader, listen. That holds especially true for donor inter-actions. I like how my grandmother put it: “God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason.”

It should be fun! If it isn’t, you’re playing the wrong role, or not getting the help you need. For instance: I have a phobia of cold calls; my colleagues understand this, and provide me with lots of prospect information.

Done right, fundraising can be tremendously satisfying for everyone involved—especially for you, as the fundraiser who gets a resounding “yes” and the start of a long term relationship from a brand new donor, and renewed and increased commitments from your existing donors.

JoyThe

of FundraisingBy Howard Stevenson

professor, and author, whose positions at nonprofit institutions have included vice provost of Harvard University, senior associate dean of Harvard Business School, chair of the Harvard Business School Press, and chair of National Public Radio. He has been a donor and a fundraiser for most of his life. Shirley Spence is a researcher, writer and management consultant whose work spans the business and nonprofit worlds.

©Grantland Enterprises

AS THE CLOCK STRUCK MIDNIGHT ON NOV. 13, 2013, WE BROKE ALL OF LAST YEAR’S RECORDS. The Georgia Center for Nonprofits started Georgia Gives Day as a call for Georgians (and beyond) to recognize the vital work of nonprofits in building thriving communities, and contribute needed resources to accomplish that work. And beyond the funds received, the Georgia Gives initiative is accomplishing something much more: it is proving the power of partnership through this uniquely massive collaboration between nonprofits, foundations, companies, government, and individuals who care. Together, we have created a powerful annual giving movement in Georgia that will only continue to grow.

10 MILLION+ SOCIAL MEDIA IMPRESSIONS ON GA GIVES DAY

357NONPROFITS PREPPED FOR THE DAY WITH TRAINING FROM OUR ONLINE AND ONSITE TRAINING EVENTS IN ATLANTA, BRUNSWICK, MARIETTA, MACON, MILLEDGEVILLE, AND COLUMBUS

$1,000THE AVERAGE RAISED PER MINUTE

1,720nonprofits participated

28% of GAgivesday.org visitors came from social media

#GAgivesday was a Twitter trending topic!

3X more followers than last year on Facebook

5,000+ Tweets, averaging one every 15 seconds

75+ MEDIA STORIES ran in Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, Macon, Savannah, Albany and other markets

50+ BILLBOARDS1,332: number of times our ad ran on one digital billboard on I-85 in Atlanta.

BIGGEST HOUR 11am–12pm: Raised $169,206

$1,448,233RAISED IN 2013 UP 85%FROM 2012TOTAL RAISED TO DATE

$2,438,165 OUR TOP PERFORMERS Most Donors:1. Furkids – 5752. Atlanta Pet Rescue & Adoption – 359 3. Calvary Christian School of Columbus – 2204. National Infantry Museum Foundation – 188  5. Fountain Gate Life & Wellness – 166

Most Dollars:1. National Infantry Museum Foundation – $48,997 2. The Global Village Project – $43,450 3. Buckhead Christian Ministry – $30,571 4. Trees Columbus – $26,428 5. Furkids – $25,228

25,707 VISITS TO THE SITE ON GA GIVES DAY

TRAFFIC FROM ALL 50 STATES AND 60 OTHER COUNTRIES

11,257 DONORSUP 46% FROM 2012What donors told us…• 92% would use GAgives.org to make future donations.• 19% gave more than they budgeted for giving!• 17% gave to a new nonprofit• 10% made their first-ever donation to a nonprofit

Columbusraised $284,998

Atlanta raised $550,584

Brunswickraised $34,991

Macon & Milledgeville raised $121,321

Augusta

If you laid each dollar donated end to end, it would reach from Atlanta to Augusta.

229PRIZES AND INCENTIVE GRANTS AWARDED ON GEORGIA GIVES DAY, RANGING FROM $500 TO $5,000 EACH

26Georgia Nonprofit NOW

took to Twitter with a grassroots campaign linking to ACFB’s Gives Day profile page. More than 40 chefs, restaurants, and establishments—including @chef_morimoto, @choptedallen, @flipburger, @AJCBuzz and @AtlanticStation—shared his call to action with their networks. With the help of one energized supporter, ACFB raised $3,490—enough to provide 14,000 meals. Atlanta’s elite—that is, our most commu-nity-minded celebrities and businesses—also pitched in with social media appeals on behalf of GA Gives Day and their favorite causes, including WSB’s Jovita Moore, Nancy Grace, popular Atlanta start-up Scoutmob, and GA Gives Day partner Ames Scullin O-Haire. Action Ministries brought in $5,350 and won an additional $2,000, thanks to an exclusive Gives Day opportunities for hunger and financial literacy causes. With an active day of email and social media appeals, Action Ministries staff executed a winning strategy to drive giving during “power hours.” They fielded one Gives Day call from a current donor who overcame a reluctance to give online when he read, in the email appeal, how it would help them take home the prize. With the guidance and support of our media partners, GCN continued to build public awareness and drive participation through a statewide multimedia campaign: on billboards and in local businesses, in broadcast and radio PSAs, and in interviews (on air, in print, and online). GCN President and CEO Karen Beavor spoke about GA Gives Day to reporters across metro Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta, and across Georgia. WSB featured Furkids in an extended segment. 11Alive invited Atlanta Legal

impact

As Georgia Gives Day progressed, we witnessed first-hand the smart, creative cam-paigns nonprofits deployed to activate their “cause champions,” inspiring both current supporters and new donors. Nonprofits large and small seized the opportunity, leveraging prize and incentive opportunities through social media campaigns, media outreach, and live events. Donors offered surprises too, finding some unexpected ways to support the causes that inspired them on Georgia’s second annual day of giving.

Furkids was a Twitter star, revving up their supporters by tweeting updates on progress toward their $15,000 goal throughout the day, asking donors to help them win bonus prizes during specific hours, and posting compelling pictures with a call to action. They ended the day on top of our donor leaderboard, and far ex-ceeded their goal, having raised more than $25,000—plus another $8,000 in prizes. Social media played a pivotal role in the success of GA Gives Day. With a new tweet posting every 15 seconds, on aver-age, #GaGivesDay and @GAGives created more than 10 million impressions. On Nov. 13, social media like Twitter and Facebook accounted for 28 percent of all GAGives-Day.org site traffic. Many nonprofits, like East Point’s Future Foundation and the Pregnancy Center of Monroe County, used Gives Day images for Facebook page cover photos and headlines. One Atlanta Community Food Bank supporter answered the call to donate influence as well as dollars. @gmcferrin

HOW NONPROFITS POWEREDTHEIR OWNGIVES DAYSUCCESS By Tom Zimmerman

impact

Aid Society for an in-studio interview. Within an hour of their interview on Albany’s Fox 31, Flint River Habitat for Humanity received an anonymous donation for $1,000. Reach Out and Read used First Lady Sandra Deal’s visit to Fort Benning as a hook to talk about GA Gives Day on WSB. Some nonprofits took their Gives Day campaigns “offline,” hosting events to build buzz and giving momentum. Atlan-ta’s Enchanted Closet held a board ser-vice and volunteer mixer. Chattahoochee Valley Libraries and Muscogee County Friends of Libraries partnered to host “Superhero Storytime,” with costume con-tests and crafts. Continuing their winning first-year strategy, Columbus’s National Infantry Museum accepted donations from guests, rewarding them with free popcorn for their IMAX theatre. Keeping with their theme, they even had staff dressed as soldiers lead guests in march cadences and rang a bell to announce large donations.” Atlanta Community ToolBank held a 12-hour Gives Day “funhouse” at their new warehouse, welcoming Atlanta Dis-trict 1 Councilwoman Carla Smith and com-munity families to enjoy scavenger hunts, tours, food, and gifts in return for dona-tions. Others joined GCN for our noontime flashmob at Lenox Mall with the Atlanta Falcons Cheerleaders, on-site giving, and coverage by 11Alive, WSB, and WABE.

As GA Gives Day 2013 came to a close, we saw nonprofits like Atlanta Pet Res-cue, Milledgeville’s Habitat for Humani-ty, and Communities in Schools follow-ing up with creative and compelling ways to express their gratitude to supporters. Nonprofits including Trees Colum-bus, Girls Incorporated of Columbus and Phenix-Russell are already posting evidence of the impact made by Gives Day donations.

Tom Zimmerman is GCN’s Communica-tions Manager and Community Editor of NOW.

© 2013 BDO USA, LLP. All rights reserved.

Accountants and Consultantswww.bdo.com/nonprofit

The Nonprofit Practice at BDOIn an industry dominated by increasing regulation and fiscal challenges, proactive financial advisory is crucial. With a strategic commitment to the nonprofit industry, BDO’s Nonprofit practice professionals provide swift and practical resolution of issues through partner-led client service teams and direct access to industry leaders.

“What we need is a dedicated Nonprofit team.”People who know Nonprofits, know BDO.

Our Nonprofit & Education practice provides interactive and accessible thought leadership through our Nonprofit Standard Blog. Check us out at http://nonprofitblog.bdo.com.

Anthony Reh, Audit Partner / Sandra Feinsmith, Tax Senior DirectorBDO USA, LLP, 1100 Peachtree St., Suite 700, Atlanta GA 30309 / 404-688-6841

28Georgia Nonprofit NOW

In 2014, train your entire team at one low cost with NU’s Custom & Private Training.Nonprofit University can bring our core curriculum training directly to you or customize a program to meet the specific needs of your organization.

“They customized the training to meet our needs and provided practical tools that we were able to apply immediately.“Belva Dorsey, CEO, Enrichment Services Program

Visit gcn.org/custom or contact Nicole Myers at nu@gcn.org or 678-916-3030 to learn more.

NONPROFIT UNIVERSITY™

Customized to meet your needs, whether your group consists of nonprofit staff, board members, foundations, or regional groups.

More cost- effective training for sessions involving 10 or more participants.

More convenient, since we bring the training to you. Eliminate travel time and expense.

Build knowledge and teamwork through a shared learning experi-ence and interac-tive sessions.

29No. 7 | Winter 2014

community

Highlights at GCN

The second annual Georgia Gives Day broke all of last year’s records, bringing in $1,448,233 from 11,257 do-nations to 1,720 participating nonprofits statewide. Since the launch of GAgives.org 14 months ago, more than $2.4 million has been raised for Georgia’s nonprofits.

GCN announced the launch of Leading for Impact—Atlanta, a two-year program created by The Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit advisor and resource for mission-driven organizations and philanthropy, and brought to Atlanta in collaboration with GCN.

GCN’s Opportunity Knocks team welcomes Teacier Wesley as account manager.

Opportunity Knocks is accepting nominations for the 8th annual Best Nonprofit to Work For Awards.

In 2014, GCN is expanding our Momentum initiative to Albany, Savannah, Macon and Augusta with the assistance of funders including Georgia Council for the Arts and community partners. Momentum is a multi-year innovative process, based on extensive research, that helps nonprofits create actionable high-impact strategy, make data-driven decisions with their boards, and implement enduring systems to manage and measure results. Learn more at gcn.org/momentum.

Kelly Brown has joined the GCN staff as Special Events Consultant and Atlanta Ad Club manager.

GCN welcomes four new AmeriCorps VISTA staff members: Malika Whitley, Averri Liggins, Kimyetta Hayden, and Taylor Northern.

GCN’s Coastal Regional Office has moved to 400 Gloucester Street, Suite 201, Brunswick, GA 31520.

GCN’s Nonprofit Consulting Group hosted Nonprofit Finance Fund consultant training for The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta.

GCN and The Home Depot Foundation inducted 20 metro-area nonprofits into the Building Community Network Class of 2013.

GCN President and CEO Karen Beavor was quoted in Creative Loafing and WABE’s 4-part series on local nonprofits, Delta SKY’s profile of the Atlanta nonprofit community, and appeared on WSB, 11Alive, and other radio and newspapers across the state to promote Georgia Gives Day.

Development Director Mackenzie Wood served on a panel for the Greater Atlanta chapter of the Asso-ciation of Fundraising Professionals.

Opportunity Knocks has provided support and collaborated with Young Nonprofit Profession-als Network (YNPN) chapters in New York City, Washington, DC, and Greater Buffalo to sponsor career fairs, workshops and annual conventions.

With the support of the Peyton Anderson Foundation, GCN will be mapping and assessing the social service structure provided by Bibb County nonprofits to provide an overall landscape of provid-ed services, identify duplication, and provide market data for nonprofits to work collaboratively to bridge gaps in service.

Development Manager Corby Herschman was named the Global Summit Co-Chair for the American Jewish Committee.

The GCN 2014 Corporate Sustainers Com-mittee has been named and includes Paul Snyderof InterContinental Hotels Group (Chair), Stan Brovont of ARRIS, Kevin Campbell of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Helen Cease of SunTrust, Pedro Cherry of Georgia Power, Sally Harbeson of Southwest Airlines, Safiya Jones of Cbeyond, Mike Paulhusof King & Spalding, and Jeff Woodward of Taylor English.

GCN’s Ashley Langford and Nicole Morgan have been named to the board of Young Nonprofit Professionals Network Atlanta.

St. Mary’s United Methodist Church Foun-dation has pledged $225,000 over the next three years to support GCN in capacity-building for rural coastal Georgia nonprofits.

GCN staff spent the day volunteering at Friends of Disabled Adults and Children (FODAC) in Stone Mountain as part of our annual holiday tradition.

Nonprofit University welcomed 13 Atlanta non-profit leaders to Nonprofit CEO Peerspectives’ third cohort. This year’s cohort will sharpen their ex-ecutive leadership capabilities through peer learning, relationship building, and one-on-one coaching.

Twenty rising nonprofit leaders completed the Nonprofit University’s High Potential Diverse Leaders (HPDL) program, presented in partnership with American Express.

GCN has partnered with the Alice Huffard Richards Fund and the Community Foun-dation of West Georgia to create the Alice Huffard Richards Nonprofit Leadership Initiative, engaging 20 CEOs in the region in an 8-month program focused on building core leadership skills through peer learning, executive coaching, and high quality speakers.

This quarter, Nonprofit University held 20 classes and began four new certificate programs, in-cluding the sold-out Certificate of Nonprofit Finance and Accounting.

Nonprofit University continues to provide cus-tom training, created specifically to meet the needs of their clients, including Georgia Head Start Association, Sheltering Arms Early Education, Spelman College, and many more.

NONPROFITSPostpartum ProgressGeorgia Trauma FoundationPoverty is RealCentered for LifeFirst Foundation KidsHudgens Center for the ArtsFinancial Planning Association of GeorgiaOdysseyGolden Isles Career AcademyNEX LabsThe Chelsea FoundationThe Path ProjectThe Ellis SchoolCity Hope AllianceWare Prep AcademyGeorgia Child Care AssociationCamden HouseFabrefaction Theater CompanyCharlie Bates Solar Astronomy ProjectThe Adoption AuthoritySisters by Choice Fountain Gate Life and WellnessSatilla RiverkeeperThéatre du RêveRuth Naomi’s InitiativeThe Dave Krache FoundationCare Net Pregnancy Center of Coastal GeorgiaHospice of the Golden Isles

Zoetic Dance EnsembleKeep Jackson County BeautifulDress for Success AugustaHelping Hands Foreign MissionsPeople TVAltamaha Technical College FoundationSpecial Olympics of Coastal GeorgiaStar FoundationAware Wildlife Center

BUSINESSESFirespring Enterprise Fleet Management DDC USA CBK Grant Writing & Consulting The Schapiro Group

ASSOCIATESPatricia Harris Susan Brown Greta Ellis STUDENTSJennifer McEwen Nancy Singer Lillie Linear Paula Gable Stephanie Hudson

welcome New Members

20 YEARS The Sheltering Arms Early Education & Family CentersAtlanta Community Food BankGirl Scouts of Greater AtlantaCharis Community HousingLIFESPAN ResourcesGeorgia Association for Prader-Willi Syndrome

15 YEARS Forsyth County Family HavenGeorgia ForestwatchGood Samaritan Health CenterThe Link Counseling Center Living RoomThe Goizueta Foundation

10 YEARS Black Women Film Preservation ProjectGood Samaritan Health & Wellness CenterRobert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta University CenterAGAPE Community Center

Atlanta Neighborhood Development PartnershipCentral Atlanta ProgressVoices for Georgia’s ChildrenGeorgia Health Policy Center

5 YEARS Physicians Care Clinic PricewaterhouseCoopersThe Gabriel CenterSpecial Populations Tennis ProgramGeorgia Biomedical PartnershipBack 2 Basics Kids Foundation

Member MilestonesThroughout our 2014 issues, we’ll be recognizing GCN members marking milestones this year.

community

30Georgia Nonprofit NOW

community

Member News

31No. 7 | Winter 2014

PEOPLEStephanie Davis was

named executive director of Georgia Women for a Change

Karen Mebius has joined Actor’s Express board.

Project GRAD Atlanta named Dr. Nanette Lee Reynolds as interim executive director.

Lisa Robinson joined The Woodruff Arts Center as director of development and communications.

National Center for Civil and Human Rights welcomed Terrie Rouse as chief operating officer.

Reggie Walker has been named Pricewa-terhouseCoopers LLP’s managing partner of the Greater Atlanta market.

A. Jefferson Lesesne, Rev. Glenn Ethridge, Dameron Black IV, Candler Budd, William Curtis, Kathleen Thomas, and Todd Wickliffe joined the Foundation of Wesley Woods board.

Make-A-Wish Georgia welcomed Sanjay Lall to the board.

Erica Rabhan joined American Jewish Com-mittee Atlanta as regional director of development.

Tami Willadsen has been named director of philanthropy for The Nature Conservancy.

Freddy Cardozo, Charles R. Edwards, and Allison Johnston joined the board of St. Vincent de Paul Georgia.

Danielle Hegedus joined Year Up as director of development.

HONORSHeartBound Minis-

tries’ President Andrea Shelton received the E. Dale Threadgill Community Service Award.

Kate’s Club was selected as the Atlanta Santa Speedo Run 2013 beneficiary.

National Center for Civil and Human Rights and CEO Doug Shipman were recognized at the 2013 Annual Hard Hat Awards.

CARE USA was included on the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s 2013 Philanthropy 400.

ACHIEVEMENTSChattahoochee

Nature Center received $100,000 from the Fulton County Board of Com-missioners to continue support for programs and services.

TechBridge received a Google Community Grant of $50,000. The grant will be used to fund a ‘Cloud Advisor’ on the TechBridge staff.

Make-A-Wish Geor-gia received $300,000 from Novelis.

The Georgia Leader-ship Institute for School Improvement (GLISI) and Carroll County Schools received a five-year $3.9 million federal grant through the U.S. Department of Educa-tion’s School Leadership Program.

Atlanta Habitat for Humanity received a $250,000 grant from The James M. Cox Foun-dation to help fund the purchase and renovation of an environmentally sustainable headquarters building.

Atlanta Community Food Bank received a $30,000 grant from the Nationwide Insur-ance Foundation to provide food to those living in “food insecure” households.

Refugee Family Services and Refugee Resettlment and Immigration Services of Atlanta are integrating into one organization, with the guidance of GCN’s Nonprofit Consult-ing Group and a grant from The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. The full legal merger should be final on Oct. 1st, 2014.

The Nature Conser-vancy surpassed its fundraising goal and raised $25.9 million.

Atlanta Women’s Foundation launched its “Numbers Too Big To Ignore” fundraising campaign to support the 81,000 girls in the five-metro area, with $500,000 goal.

Trees Atlanta received a $35,000 grant from The State Farm Youth Advi-sory Board to support their youth education program, Urban Tree Trackers.

Senior Connections received a $175,000 home repair grant from The Home Depot Foundation for repairs to homes owned by senior vet-erans or their surviving spouses.

Chattahoochee Riv-erkeeper was awarded $42,000 from SweetWater Brewery for their sum-mer-long Save Our Water Campaign to provide better river monitoring and patrol.

CARE USA celebrated 20 years in Atlanta and thanked key leaders during a gala event.

Senior Connections received a $20,000 tech-nology grant from The Waffle House Foundation to upgrade critical Meals On Wheels routing hardware and software components.

CredAbility is merging with a Virginia nonprofit

to create ClearPoint Credit Counseling Solutions.

The Atlanta Hawks Foundation awarded James T. Anderson Boys & Girls Club a $25,000 for a court renovation.

IMPACTCURE Childhood Can-

cer donated more than $2.5 million for research aimed at childhood can-cer research and training pediatric oncologists.

Grace House held an open house to celebrate their new facility, a renovated 6,100 square-foot home in the heart of historic Brunswick.

Quality Care for Children launched its All Georgia Kids mobile app. The app allows families to search and compare more than 6,000 child care programs statewide.

To expand learning gardens, Captain Planet Foundation plans to in-stall a total of nearly 100 gardens in metro Atlanta elementary and middle schools.

The UPS Foundation launched its global vol-unteer month committing to plant 1 million trees around the world. The foundation also awarded $2.3 million in grants to

support environmental programs.

Advance Learning Academy has moved into a new space in St. Marys that will increase the number of youth they can serve from 36 to 300, in-cluding a gym, cafeteria, and two-story classroom building.

United Way of Greater Atlanta launched their “Money Game” mobile app powered by the SunTrust Foundation, to help users improve their financial literacy.

Georgia Leadership Institute for School Improvement (GLISI) released Conditions for Success: Community Pride, Sustained District Focus, and Teaching Excellence in a Rural Georgia County, a case study on the conditions present when student achievement gains occur in districts that partic-ipate in GLISI leader training.

HomeAid Atlanta partnered with the NFL Players Association, former players, Atlanta Chapter and the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association to make repairs and upgrades to a transitional home.

Neighborhood Nexus, the Atlanta Regional Commission and The

Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta launched a new online information tool that gives users access to data ranging from popu-lation and poverty rates to help better meet local challenges.

Project GRAD Atlanta collaborated with EDU, Inc. to provide a cost efficient opportunity for aspiring college students to apply to 34 HBCUs.

Coastal Georgia Historical Society is restoring the Keeper’s Dwelling at the St. Simons lighthouse. The project should be com-pleted this spring.

Share your news with the GCN community! Email NOW@gcn.org

For the latest member news, follow our up-dates on our NOWblog at gcn.org/blog.

32Georgia Nonprofit NOW

community

A GCN holiday tradition continues More than 150 members attended GCN’s festive Holiday Party on Dec. 18 at Monday Night Brewing. Attendees enjoyed micro-beer tastings, networking with fellow members and our Georgia Gives Day partners, tours of the brewery, raffle prizes, snacks and our popular photobooth!

Event Highlights

A Georgia-style flashmob! Lunchtime shoppers at Lenox Mall got an extra surprise on Georgia Gives Day as GCN staged a high-energy “flashmob” to bring more attention to our day of giving and on-the spot donations. With help from the Atlanta Falcons cheerleaders, the event drew a curious crowd inside the mall and was covered live by local TV and radio. A shout-out to Gives Day partner, Edelman, for their behind-the-scenes support!

Member events around the state GCN Executive VP Chris Allers has been on the road facilitating a popular series of workshops on “Sharpening Your Strategic Advantage” and “The Art of Friend-Raising” to members in Stone Mountain, Cobb County, and Brunswick. The series continues with upcoming events in Atlanta and Macon. (see the calendar on the inside back cover and visit GCN.org/events)

33No. 7 | Winter 2014

community

Celebration and collaboration in the Building Community Network On Nov. 19, GCN and The Home Depot Foundation inducted 20 Atlanta-area nonprofits into the Building Community Network, surprising each with a $20,000 donation from The Home Depot Foundation. After the celebration, social entrepreneur and Taproot Foundation founder Aaron Hurst facilitated an interactive workshop on “Collaboration in The Purpose Economy,” featuring breakout discussion exploring opportunities for collective action. The Class of 2013 joins nearly 150 alumni in the Building Community Network.

Nonprofits convene for a 4-county forum More than 100 nonprofit professionals from Clayton, Fayette, Henry, and Spalding counties gathered at Clayton State University on Nov. 14, for the Clayton Nonprofit Forum, a program presented by GCN and The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta’s Clayton Fund. Featuring a keynote by Atlanta Community Food Bank CEO Bill Billing and a series of interactive workshops on fundraising, board management, and grant opportunities, the day-long event provided a dynamic forum for nonprofit leaders working beyond the city center.

Qualities of high-performing leaders The Nov. 11 Nonprofit CEO Peerspectives event brought together program alumni with this year’s cohort for a lively panel discussion among foundation and nonprofit leaders, exploring “The Funder-Leadership Dynamic.” Hosted by King & Spalding, the event also featured roundtables and the opportunity to mix and mingle with some of Atlanta’s most respected sector leaders.

Photos courtesy of The Home Depot Foundation (above left), and The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta (lower right) © Chris Herrin

34Georgia Nonprofit NOW

calendar

calendar

Feb. 4 | OnlineMEMBER EVENT

The Basics of Online Social Networking for NonprofitsJoin our live webinar to learn how to increase your constituency base and your donations by creating a blog for your nonprofit and using Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to connect, engage, and motivate them to give. Presented by Firespring’s Jay Wilkinson.

Feb. 5 | MaconCOMMUNITY EVENT

Macon Social Services ForumAlthough social services nonprofits make up a large percentage of our sector, there is little information, outside of what is reported on the IRS 990, about this segment’s actual scope of work and overall impact. With the support of the Peyton Anderson Foundation, GCN plans to close the information gap by conducting a comprehensive study of Bibb County’s social services nonprofits, starting with in-depth surveys and focus groups to help us identify gaps in service, along with opportunities for innovation and collaboration.

Begins Feb. 18 | AtlantaNONPROFIT UNIVERSITY

Certificate of Advanced Nonprofit FundraisingThis four-part series is designed to sharpen the skills of seasoned development profes-sionals, focusing on donor relationships, data management, effectiveness assessment, and development leadership.

Feb. 24 | AtlantaCOMMUNITY EVENT

Veterans Briefing: Community Needs and Public Funding OpportunitiesJoin GCN and The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta to explore paths to best serve and support the 216,000 veterans living in the Atlanta area. Learn about funding sources from federal and state agencies and upcoming veterans’ programs supported by the State of Georgia. This event is sponsored by The Kendeda Fund.

Begins Feb. 27 | BrunswickMEMBER EVENT

Southern Coast Leadership InitiativeExclusively for chief executives at GCN coastal member nonprofits, this unique peer-based leadership program features an organizational assessment and executive coaching, and a six-session program series on exploring core issues for effective organizational leaders. This program is presented with the generous support of the St. Marys United Methodist Church Foundation.

Begins Feb. 27 | AtlantaNONPROFIT UNIVERSITY

Certificate of Nonprofit LeadershipThrough interactive workshop sessions taught by industry experts, this series will increase your competency at applying sound manage-ment principles to diagnose core issues and challenges, and develop results-based strat-egies to address them. Sessions also focus on the value of building partnerships and a commitment to staff leadership training.

Coming up in early 2014: a full schedule of complimentary member events, Nonprofit University programs, and community events around the state. Learn more and register online at GCN.org/events.

35No. 7 | Winter 2014

calendar

No. 7 | Winter 2014 Georgia Nonprofit NOW is a quarterly publication of the Georgia Center for Nonprofits, distributed exclusively to our members and partners.

Georgia Nonprofit NOW Publisher: Karen Beavor Editor-in-Chief: Betsy Reid Managing Editor: Marc Schultz Community Editor: Tom Zimmerman Contributing Writers: Cindy Cheatham, Heather Infantry, Dana Lupton, Shirley Spence, Howard Stevenson Editorial Assistant: Anita JamesDesign: Jenifer Cooper/Cooperworks, Inc.

Email: now@gcn.org Phone: 678.916.3000Membership: Reggie Seay membership@gcn.org Advertising: Shannon Anderson sponsorship@gcn.org

Georgia Center for Nonprofits Karen Beavor, President and CEO Chris Allers, Ph.D., EVP, Programs Laurie Baas, Controller Cindy Cheatham, VP, Nonprofit Consulting Group Betsy Reid, Communications Director Mackenzie Wood, Development Director Lanous Wright, Nonprofit University Director

The Georgia Center for Nonprofits builds thriving communities by helping nonprofits succeed. Through a powerful mix of advocacy, solutions for nonprofit effectiveness, and insight building tools, GCN provides nonprofits, board members, and donors with the tools they need to strengthen organizations that make a difference on important causes throughout Georgia.

Georgia Center for Nonprofits 100 Peachtree St. NW, Suite 1500 Atlanta GA 30303

© Copyright 2014 by Georgia Center for Nonprofits. All rights reserved.

Coming in March | MaconMEMBER EVENT

The Art of Friend-RaisingLearn the one thing nearly every future “friend” is willing to do to help your organization, five things that prospective donors want from you, and why “friend-raising” generates more resources than fundraising.

Begins March 6 | AtlantaNONPROFIT UNIVERSITY

Certificate of Nonprofit Volunteer Management Build the core skills that set the stage for effective volunteer administration and man-agement, ensuring that the spirit of volun-teering is sustained and nurtured through a rewarding volunteer experience.

Begins March 12 | AtlantaNONPROFIT UNIVERSITY

Certificate of Nonprofit Human Resource Management This certificate program is designed for orga-nizations of all sizes and focuses on many of the essential human resources topics critical to any nonprofit’s success. This certificate offers a comprehensive, but practical foun-dation in the major areas essential to an HR professional.

Begins March 26 | AtlantaNONPROFIT UNIVERSITY

Certificate of Supervision & ManagementBuild a firm foundation of understanding and expertise to develop your supervisory skills. This certificate series is designed to provide those working in — or preparing for — a supervisory role with the knowledge and skills needed to be effective managers and leaders.

Begins March 28 | AtlantaMEMBER EVENT

Spring Member DayJoin members and staff for an informative and welcoming experience where you’ll learn how to maximize the benefits of GCN membership, network with peers, benefit from a “curbside” consulting opportunity, and find out more about the many ways in which GCN is working for you and our sector.

Coming in April | Gwinnett CountyMEMBER EVENT10 Secrets to Motivating Board LeadershipHow can you keep your board mo tivated and energized for the long haul? Join us for this workshop to gain the knowledge, skills and resources to truly engage your board.

Begins April 23 | AtlantaNONPROFIT UNIVERSITY

Certificate of Program Management A new program! Program management is the ongoing systematic process to plan, im-plement and evaluate an initiative. This two-day series covers the essentials: communi-ty needs assessment, administration, roles and responsibilities, evaluation, budgeting, marketing, and funding.

Begins May 6 | AtlantaNONPROFIT UNIVERSITY

High Potential Diverse LeadersOur annual HPDL program prepares “rising stars” for executive-level careers in the sector. though an immersive and enriching experience of training, access, and interac-tion with nonprofit leaders and opportunities to develop to peer networks and support systems.

100 Peachtree Street NW, Suite 1500Atlanta, GA 30303

Better know your board.GCN’s on-board expertise, backed by original research and insight from our high performance member nonprofits, make this issue a one-stop source for getting your board development process into gear, including tools and tips for:• Understanding board member motivation • Charting your strategic board needs • Beginning the search for new board talent • Creating a personalized leadership development plan

Plus: Board Chairs in their own words; a rundown of GCN’s board resources, available online, at Nonprofit University, and from our Nonprofit Consulting Group; and the latest in our Board Chair-CEO conversations, with the leadership team at Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta discussing what it takes to manage a major transition.

Meet some of Georgia’s nonprofit board chairs.On front cover (from left to right, starting at top): John Schaub, The Fuller Center for Housing; Julia Bernath, Sandy Springs Education Force; Ed Shartar, Georgia Center for Nonprofits; Charlie Crawford, Atlanta Track Club; Patrick Ebri, Golden Isles Career Academy; Scott Garrett, Catholic Charities Atlanta; Carlos Pagoaga, Latin American Association; Jaimie Hardin, Moving In the Spirit; Susan Bell, United Way of Greater Atlanta; Buff Leavy, Jekyll Island Foundation; Todd Tautfest, Project Open Hand; Kelly Combs, HealthMPowers; Sonjui Kumar, Asian American Legal Advocacy Center; Guy Kriske, North Fulton Community Charities; Bruce McEvoy, Museum Of Design Atlanta; Mike Sarsfield, Auditory-Verbal Center; Lisa Blanco, All About Developmental Disabilities; Terri Guthrie, Center for Family Resources; Chad Duncan, CHRIS Kids; Derek Swemmer, Golden Key International Honour Society; Aaron A. Sampson, Refugee Family Services; Henry Kelly, 100 Black Men of Atlanta; Rebecca Hood, Nuci’s Space. On back cover (from left to right, starting at top): Walt Bryde, Senior Connections; Dan Zenas, Child Spring International; Mary Howell, Kate’s Club; Susannah Balish, Ferst Foundation; Bruce Dixon, Safe Harbor Children’s Center; Helene Lollis, Junior Achievement of Georgia; Judy Clements, RRISA; Ralph Huling, Enrichment Services Program.