Leadership Engagement: The Key to Capacity Building

Leadership Engagement:
The Key to Capacity Building
David A. Mersky
January 18, 2012

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Today’s Speaker

David A. Mersky
Founder and Managing Director,
Mersky, Jaffe & Associates
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A Service
Of: Sponsored by:

Leadership Engagement:
The Key to Capacity
Building

David A. Mersky
Founder and Managing Director
Mersky, Jaffe & Associates
January 18, 2012
©2011 Mersky, Jaffe & Associates

The State of Philanthropy in
America Today


The number of 501(c)(3) organizations 2001–2010

2010 charitable giving
Total = $290.89 billion

Types of recipients of contributions, 2010
Total = $290.89 billion

Total giving as a percentage of Gross Domestic
Product, 1970–2010

Data are rounded.

Total charitable giving and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index
(Adjusted for inflation)

Giving by type of recipient as a percentage of total giving

Data began in 1978 for foundations and in 1987 for environment/animals and international affairs.

Q:
How do you get your
piece of the pie?


A:
• A Strong Leadership Team

• A Comprehensive Plan

• A Compelling Case

PROPER
PLANNING
PREVENTS
POSSIBLE
POOR
PERFORMANCE


PROPER
PLANNING
PROMOTES
POSSIBLE
POSITIVE
PERFORMANCE


GAINS:
The Platonic Ideal
Board member tasks and
responsibilities


GIVE
• Their gift makes a
difference
• Their gift empowers
them to serve as an
advocate and
ambassador
• Their gift enhances
their credibility to ask
others to give

ACKNOWLEDGE
• Acknowledge
contributions in
personally written
letters and calls
• Tell donors how
valuable their gift is
• Recognize donors at
events personally


IDENTIFY
• Review existing
prospects and donors
• Identify others from
communal,
professional or
personal contacts


ENGAGE
or if you prefer NURTURE
• Educate and encourage
prospects to support the
organization
• Host a meeting at home
for major gift prospects
• Conduct one-on-one
encounters to engage
prospects

SOLICIT
• People give to people
• Approach people with
whom they are comfortable
• By asking others to give,
leaders fulfill their
responsibility to provide
financial resources
• Build a community of
donors and funders


A strong board has…
• Dedication to the organization’s purpose
• Regularly scheduled discussions about goals and objectives
• No fear of failure
• Unshakable confidence in the organization’s objectives
• Patience—it takes time to reach goals
• Priorities and timelines


A strong board has…
• Personal energy
• Persistence
• Commitment to change
• Willingness to try new things
• An understanding of the role of and respect
for professional staff

Only a board can…
• Define and disseminate the mission
• Set institutional goals
• Manage the assets
• Authorize and oversee budgets
• Provide financial resources to fulfill the mission and meet the
institutional goals
• Engage the ―CEO‖
• Replace themselves

Guiding Principles
• A successful organization begets successful
board recruitment and retention
• Strong staff attracts strong board members
• If your board is unwilling to pay the going
rate for quality staff, you will get what you
pay for


Guiding Principles
• Success results from the shared commitment of board
and staff
• A board member who is properly prepared is
productive
• When recruiting your board, as in soliciting funds,
you are hurt more by those who were not asked and
would have said ―yes‖ than by those who say ―no‖


The Annual Fund Plan:
BOARD DEVELOPMENT
• Assess the current board
• Committee on Governance and Leadership Development
– Create job descriptions
– Identification, recruitment, appointment and
confirmation of members
– Board member agreement?
• Orientation Meeting/Materials
• Evaluate


Obstacles to Board Effectiveness

• Absence of a written rationale for the
existence and role of the board
• Lack of a studied design for the composition
criteria, on site/in-house orientation and
function of board members, and
• Failure of control and evaluation of the board
and its members by the board itself


The Board Building Cycle
Identify

Celebrate Cultivate

Rotate Recruit

Orient
Assess

Educate Involve

Identify
• A board is like a puzzle
• Profile your existing board
• Establish criteria for new
board members
• Create a file for each
prospect
• Assign a prospect manager


Cultivate
• Personally invite
prospective board
members to special events
• Follow up with one-on-one
encounters
• Focus on prospect’s
interests—not
organizational needs
• Develop relationship


Recruit
• Face to face meeting with
board chair, ―CEO‖ and
prospect manager
• Make expectations clear
• Written job description
• Board member agreement
or commitment letter


Orient
• Provide all new board
members with
• history
• by-laws
• budget review
• strategic plan
• org chart
• mentor
• Create harmony between
new and old board
members


Involve
• Conduct valuable,
informative meetings
• Delegate meaningful tasks
to new board members
• Pair them with veterans


Educate
• Help people advance
within the organization
• Train board members
to succeed
• Help individuals
overcome their
anxieties about asking


Assess
• Review every board and
committee meeting
• Individual board members
should do a self-evaluation
• Board members should assess
the board and the organization
regularly


Rotate
• Set terms for service on the
board
• Groom current board for
executive positions
• Continually search for new
leadership
• Create opportunities for
―past‖ leadership to serve


Celebrate
• Complete the board building
cycle with the achievement of
organizational goals and
fulfillment of the mission
• Begin the cycle anew by
identifying prospective new
leadership


Fund Raising Roles
STAFF Board
• Provides information about the • Learns the mission and goals of the
organization organization
• Develops proposals and letters • Provides information about prospects
• Provides first draft and coordinates • Provides final edit of and signs
mailing of solicitation letters solicitation letters
• Provides follow up to all solicitation • Solicits gifts on behalf of the
calls organization
• Sends reminders and organizes report • Uses linkages to set appointments
meetings • Asks for the gift in a solicitation
• Provides information about programs meeting
and tax advantages in a solicitation call • Practices solicitation calls with team
• Schedules solicitation rehearsals members


Board members are…
…busy people
who care
deeply about
your mission


…champions of
your vision


…amateurs—
full of passion and
love for your
core values


Mersky, Jaffe
& Associates
Financial and Human Resource
Development Solutions for Nonprofits
800.361.8689 413.556.1074 fax
www.merskyjaffe.com

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