How To Manage Your Staff As If They Are Donors

This article first appeared in today's edition of NPT Weekly. Sign up for this and our other eNewsletters on our website.

Nonprofit managers have to handle both internal obligations — staff — and external obligations — donors. The two groups are generally seen as different, maybe even mutually exclusive.

During the AFP 50^th International Conference on Fundraising, however, William F. Bartolini, associate vice president for development at The George Washington University, floated the idea of managing staff as if they were donors, utilizing what nonprofits know about donors to help understand, motivate and mentor staff.
So, what are the marks of donor loyalty? Bartolini identified four:

• Identification. Perceiving one’s identity as part of an organization or group. Higher levels of participation have been found to translate to higher levels of loyalty.
• Satisfaction. Donors who have indicated satisfaction with the quality of service provided were twice as likely to offer an additional gift than those less satisfied.
• Trust. Trust is demonstrated by communicating impact, honoring promises, exhibiting good judgment, making clear the organization’s values, ensuring that communications match donor expectations, engaging in two-way communication and excellence in customer service.
• Commitment. There is a promise for the future, whereas identification is an evaluation of past experience.  Active commitment involves passion for the cause and usually involves giving to only a small number of organizations. Passive commitment means a belief in the organization or cause but not a passionate belief in it.

Find Grants For Your Nonprofit

Looking for grant opportunities? The NonProfit Times is pleased to announce a new addition to our site: The NPT Grant Finder. This new feature allows our readers to browse the latest grants from around the web. We will be adding more in the coming weeks and months.

Here's how it works: There are a number of different grant categories available (i.e. "Conference Funding"). Grants that match those categories will be posted within those categories, with links to the application at the end of each description. From there, you can decide whether or not your nonprofit would be a good match. Here's one of the many grants we already have available:

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Type of Grant: Health, HIV Research
Grant Name: Advancing Exceptional Research on HIV/AIDS
Agency(s): National Institutes on Health and National Institute on Drug Abuse
Closing Date for Applications: Dec. 17, 2012


Description:

The National Institutes on Health along with the National Institute on Drug Abuse is seeking grant proposals for a research project on HIV/AIDS and drug abuse. Applicants must have an exceptional track record of conducting groundbreaking, innovative, and/or unconventional investigations on this subject. Examples of a successful application would be a study using populations with significant numbers of drug users; samples from drug using populations; model systems, including in vitro systems and animal models, to test effects of drugs of abuse on pathogenesis, progression, treatment; and developing interventions or treatments that are tailored to drug using populations.

This award will complement NIDA’s Avant-Garde Program (http://ww2.drugabuse.gov/about/organization/arp/AVGP.htm), which supports individuals who conduct high-risk, high-reward research. In contrast with that program, this grant opportunity requires applicants do submit a detailed research plan and preliminary data.

Eligible Organizations:

• Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
• Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
• Private institutions of higher education
• For profit organizations other than small businesses
• Small businesses

The NIDA intends to fund an estimate of 2-3 proposals for a total of $1.5 million for Fiscal Year 2013. The maximum period for the proposal is five years, and should be determined by the scope of the project. You can find out more at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-DA-13-008.html

For-Profit to Nonprofit: Making The Transition

It is common to see people from the for-profit world make jump to the nonprofit sector.  The ultimate goals of a nonprofit and a for-profit might be different, but their management styles have a lot in common.  That doesn't mean there aren't things that for-profit executives should keep in mind before switching their career paths.

Nonprofit hours aren't always the typical eight-hour workday.  "No big deal", you might be think, "I had to work overtime a lot at my last job."  We're talking about more than your normal overtime work here.  There are often special events like galas, telethons, or community service work that can extend to all hours of the day, including weekends.  Make sure to ask the kind of time commitment expected when you go in for an interview.

For-profit companies can have easy access to the things because of an abundance of money.  Nonprofits aren't the picture of poverty they are sometimes made out to be, but they do need to use the donor dollars they get effectively.  This can be a bit of an adjustment for employees who are used to having more resources at their disposal.  This might not be the case depending on the organization you choose to work for, but it's something to keep in mind.

There are other differences to consider when transitioning to the nonprofit sector, but these are the two biggest adaptations you will have to make.  Feel free to add your own experiences in the comments section below.