Big Nonprofit Ideas for the Other 95%
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Tony’s Guests:
Joanna Woronkowicz is an associate at the University of Chicago’s Cultural Policy Center. She’s lead author of a study of the major building boom of museums, performing arts centers and theaters in the U.S. from 1994 to 2008. They studied 500 organizations and 700 building projects, ranging from $4 million to $335 million. We’ll talk about the lessons of that research.
Preeti Davidson, a speaker at Fund Raising Day 2012, shares her methods for identifying; asking; setting expectations for; working amicably with; and following-up with, your event honorees. She’s director of development at The Legal Aid Society.
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Here is a link to the audio podcast: 102: Arts And Culture Building Bust?
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Cerini hello and welcome to tony martignetti non-profit radio big non-profit ideas for the other ninety five percent is july twenty seventh. Welcome time, your aptly named host. I very much hope that you were with me last week. I hope to hell you were with me last week because it would hurt me deeply if i had learned that you missed trim tab marketing. James he eaten is president and creative director of tronvig group. The metaphor of a trim tab as one person who can move an entire society has professional and personal meaning for him, he explained how something small and seemingly insignificant could make a big difference in your marketing and how to figure out what that small thing is and no more crappy corporate relationships. Erica hamilton, chief program officer for i mentor, and vanessa mendenhall, vice president of the fellows program at new york, needs you described their holistic approach to your corporate relationships this week. Arts and culture building bust joanna veronica bitch is an associate at the university of chicago’s cultural policy center. She’s, lead author of a study of the major building boom of museums performing arts centers in theaters in the u s from nineteen ninety four to two thousand eight, they started with about five hundred organizations and seven hundred building projects, ranging from four million dollars to three hundred fifty five million dollars. We’ll talk about the lessons from that research and turn supporters into honorees. Pretty davidson, a speaker at fund-raising day two thousand twelve, shares her methods for identifying, asking, setting expectations for working amicably with and following up with your event honorees. She’s, director of development at the legal aid society between the guests on tony’s take two one hundred show winners and some stand up comedy videos that’s what’s on my block this week and we’ll have a short clip for you of the latter stand up comedy use hashtag non-profit radio to join the conversation with us on twitter right now, we take a break and when we return, i’ll be with joanna veronica vich and we’ll talk about the study of cultural building, bust or boom from university of chicago’s cultural policy center will stay with me co-branding think tooting, getting thinking things you’re listening to the talking alternate network, get anything? Dahna good. Hi, i’m carol ward from the body mind wellness program. Listen to my show for ideas and information to help you live a healthier life in body, mind and spirit. You hear from terrific guests who are experts in the areas of health, wellness and creativity. So join me every thursday at eleven a, m eastern standard time on talking alternative dot com professionals serving community. Are you stuck in your business or career trying to take your business to the next level, and it keeps hitting a wall? This is sam liebowitz, the conscious consultant. I will help you get to the root cause of your abundance issues and help move you forward in your life. Call me now and let’s. Create the future you dream of. Two, one, two, seven, two, one, eight, one, eight, three, that’s to one to seven to one, eight one eight three. The conscious consultant helping huntress people be better business people. You’re listening to the talking alternative network. Schnoll welcome back to big non-profit ideas for the other ninety five percent. I’m joined now by joanna veronica, bitch she’s, the lead author of set in stone building, america’s, new generation of cultural facilities nineteen, ninety four to two thousand eight she’s, an associate at the cultural policy center at the university of chicago. She studies trends in building cultural facilities and best practices for going forward. Joanna. Welcome to the show. Thanks for having me, tony it’s. A pleasure. What goes on over there at the cultural policy center at the university of chicago. Joanna, did we just lose joana? Sam joiner, are you there? You and i had this deep, insightful question about what goes on over there. My concern was that it might be ah, bunch of ivory tower academics thinking amongst themselves and nothing trickling down to the to the real world. But i i hope that she was going to dispel that she seems as she shy or we drop. We lost her she’s not shy, we lost her. Okay, well, the study that will will be talking about is one of building of museums, theaters and performing arts centers between nineteen, ninety four in two thousand eight. And we’re going to talk about what some of the aa markers of success are for those building projects and also what some of the red flags of potential problems are. As you might imagine, all these building projects don’t turn out quite the way always that boards of trustees imagine that they’re going to and the survey involved the research involved a lot of interviews with board members. Joanna, we have you back? Yes, i’m here. Ok. Ok. So we’re not sure what happened. I was just saying that, i hope. That the cultural policy center is not a place where a bunch of academics are talking to each other and nothing trickles down to the real world. That’s, that’s, that’s not that’s, not what’s happening there. Is it that’s? Certainly not what i want to make one of the major goals with the study in particular was to actually reach the field. So, you know, we had a long communications plan that went along with our research plan, and really the last six months have been devoted to figuring out how to reach the reach the field with our work. Okay, well, i’m sorry your spending time here because no one listens to this show, so this is squandering of your time. I’m sorry, but it’s too late. Now you’re committed. What? What does the cultural policy center do? Generally so generally, the cultural policy center is a joint initiative of both the hair school of public policy and nrc at the university of shots chicago, which nrc is one of the largest research institutions in this country over seventy years old, and started off with doing public opinion research and now the social science research. More generally, the cultural policy center than focused focuses specifically on research has as it has to do with thea arts and cultural sector, mainly non-profit organizations okay, and tell us what an o r c stands for so i can keep you out of jargon jail. Sure. So noor formally stands for the national opinion research center, which people know a little bit better of. Okay. All right, so these the research and the article that you are lead author of was set in stone. What was the method that you used to do the research on the’s cultural and performing arts? Well, these museums and theaters and performing arts centers? Well, this was really one of the the first systematic study of cultural building in the united states, and i think the word systematic because, you know, it was scientifically systematic, so we went through a variety of methods to make sure what we’re studying was representative of the non-profit our sector, yes, there was a number of steps that were involved. The first was really first getting a list of all construction projects of museums, theaters and performing arts centers that responded in the time period that we studied which again? Was nineteen, ninety four until two thousand eight way studied trends using that large list of of construction project. So that’s, where we came to conclusion such as there was more building going on in the south during that time period, there is also more performing arts center is being built, museums in cedars and some other conclusions that we came to. But but we also did with that list was we picked a representative sample of fifty six organisations in approximately six different cities across the united states that had a building project, and after we picked that sample, we interviewed a number of people with each organization that actually went through the building projects from beginning to end, to get details on the planning and building processes of these projects. And then, of course, we looked at those organizations, financial data as measures of outcomes for these projects. So you were you were given pretty pretty open access than to decision making and players involved in decision making. We definitely were, you know, our respondents were incredibly, they were way had a lot of really great participation, and i think one of the reasons being that we actually promised confidentiality to our respondents. So our respondents seems very much open to talking to us about how these processes actually took place. Okay, interesting. Now we have just about a minute before a break. Why do you think there’s there’s more building in the south than other parts of the country? Well, the main hypothesis and we’ve looked into this as well as because the south had less cultural facilities to begin, in a sense, they were playing catch up the other regions around the country. Ok? And you said this was the first study of its kind. There has never been a a scientific study of of outcomes in building, performing arts and arts and cultural centers. That’s, right? There have been smaller studies that have focused on the case studies, and then there have been other samples taken, but the’s samples usually are non representative. So we really tried teo stick to our methodology and making general conclusions that were representative of the entire our cultural sector. All right? And we’re gonna talk in more detail when we return after this break. Joanna veronica bitches with me and we’re talking about the study that she’s lead author of set in stone building. America’s, new generation of cultural facilities nineteen, ninety four to two thousand eight. Stay with us. Talking alternative radio twenty four hours a day. Hi, i’m donna and i’m done were certified mediators, and i am a family and couples licensed therapists and author of please don’t buy me ice cream. 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Hey, all you crazy listeners looking to boost your business, why not advertise on talking alternative with very reasonable rates? Interested simply email at info at talking alternative dot com. I’m christine cronin, president of n y charities dot orc. You’re listening to tony martignetti non-profit radio big non-profit ideas for the other ninety five percent. Welcome back. Before we dive back into this, i want to send out a little live listener love to ah, new brunswick, canada. Welcome and newport, north carolina. Welcome to both of you, there’s. Others, but that’s two so far. So, joanna, you had you did a lot of interviewing with people for representing the fifty six representative projects. Or was it all just sort of forensic and looking back? So we did a lot of interviewing. We interviewed approximately, i would say eighty people across those fifty six different organizations, so sometimes more than one person, it was mainly either the executive director or the board chair that way spoke to but way had to be sure that that person was around, right that’s, the beginning of the project and all the way through the end so we could get the entire story. We also wrote a series of case studies where we did probably about ten to fifteen interviews for each case, studies and those air available online as well with the report. And then we also did interviews with four hundred forty for organizations that did not have their own building projects, but we’re located in cities. Where there was a major building project and the purpose of those interviews were to see what the spillover effects of these types of projects are. Oh, so that’s what? You had over five hundred or you had five hundred interviews? Is that right? That’s? Right. Okay. Okay. Okay. So also then you had access to people in the communities? Not clearly, not only the charities that were involved. That’s exactly right? We really made a large attempt to speak to not only those people who were directly involved, but two people who we think might have been affected or might have had a different perspectives and those internal to the organization. And aren’t the community’s involved, or shouldn’t they be involved in assessing whether there’s a need for one of these ah, new facility of the type we’re talking about? Well, you know, that was exactly the question we were trying to get at, and we ask that question to not only the directors and board trustees that we spoke to involved in building processes, but way spoke to those organisations themselves, those external organizations to see if they have been contacted in, you know, in the planning stages. Of these building processes, i think a lot of the time there were sort of steps taken by the organization to make to reach out to the community, and that would include things like public forums and and other types of meetings and no feedback sessions and and then, you know, and there were actually attempt to speak to the arts community and seeing it, perhaps their collaboration, their partnerships available and pursuing these projects as well. And did you find that there was, ah, i don’t know how to describe just what i was there in your mind sufficient collaboration with the community partners at the feasibility study stage, so that was really one of the one of the conclusion we came to about best practices for going forward were based on what we saw in reaching out to the community, and we thought that those projects that actually did make a really attempt in getting feedback from the community and and listens to a point and were receptive to that feedback were projects that were much more successful and in those projects that either, you know, didn’t at all involved the community or didn’t didn’t really be receptive. Enough to the communities. Feedback. They had a harder time. They have a harder time after the project was open. Okay. And how did you define a successful project? It was one of probably the most difficult things that we did in the overall study was defined success. And so we ended up doing it a number of different ways. We had a lot of subjective measures of success that we actually had a sort of what we call it. Our expert review panel. Look at a lot of different data about each organization we studied, and then great success on its tail, kind of great, different dimensions of success on a scale. We also then looked at financial outcomes of these organizations and tried to get a good enough picture of after the project opened, what the finances looks like with the organization. So we gave ourselves a special that we studied organizations, that we could get financial data for at least five years out after the project opened. So those were those were definitely two ways that we categorize success with. All right. And so you talked about one of the markers of success being community involvement in the feasibility study stage. What’s, what’s what’s. Um, let’s. Talk about some others that would lead people to lead charities. Tohave ah, greater likelihood of a more of a positive outcome than not sure, you know way kind of identified four different dimensions that could lead to better, better projects down the line and one of those dimensions we call kind of the motivation for the project. And that includes really being able to decipher what’s an organizational need and what’s an organizational desire and and needs and desires, you know, already two very ambiguous terms to decipher between. But the way that we saw successful organizations decipher between the two that needed is clearly attached to demand assessment. So if you see demand increasing for your organization, then then it’s more likely that there’s a need for either better, more improved their larger facility. We also saw in terms of the motivation, those organizations that really clearly knew why the project is being built and how it related to their mission. We’re definitely much more successful down the line leadership with another dimension. So having a leader from right having the same leader start the project and then finish that project and making sure that before before the planning and building this place is definitely a vital to the project success and then way also looked at outcomes that was another dimension. And so we looked at sort of all of the ancillary revenue streams that organizations planned on having after the project opened, and we called that so we looked at essentially house flexible and nimble organizations could be in generating revenue, and then also in terms of outcomes we were those projects that were more successful also tended to really stick to the caps that they put on budgets in the planning and building processes. But most of the projects went way over budget, didn’t they? Over budget overtime? That’s right? Wasn’t eighty seven percent, eighty percent of project went over their initial budget, and and by large numbers to was it weren’t some of them to buy a factor of two? Yeah, but we did have some project over two hundred percent over their initial lodges budget s o and do we have any sense of we break that down and analyzed by that and look at what might have caused those projects that went way. Over budget to have to have been more likely to do so. Could you slice it that way? Definitely. We looked at that as well. And it was it was clearly so. One of the first reasons we call budgets really increase was that division of of the project in the beginning wasn’t as clear as it should have been. And so that’s what? We was sort of what you could call vision creased i mean, vision division kept on expanding, as i think, enthusiasm as an excitement kept on group growing with the project. But that was one reason. Okay, okay, you mentioned that something that would be likely to contribute to how you define a successful project was is that it is related to the mission. And that sounds a little bit like what you’re talking about now in mission creek. But but how does an organization start out with building a project, a concept that isn’t related to their mission? What does that look like? Well, a lot of the time, the reasons for these projects are our external to the organization. A lot of the time, you know, we saw organizations decided to build not because it was necessarily related to their mission, but because, you know certain members of the community or the board thought it would be a good idea for let’s, say economic development reasons or something like that. So it wasn’t directly attached to the organization. I think a lot of the time organizations and into trouble when that was the case, i see, ok on dh, you also talk about the the they’re being ah it’s more likely to be successful there’s increasing demand, which would sort of counter act the the ego factor, right? I mean, it wouldn’t every cultural organization like to have a brand new, spiffy building and, you know, it’s tens of thousands of square feet or something, but we have to overcome that ego and focus on some real numbers, right? I mean, you know, that’s, probably one of the most interesting elements of our facilities project is that they’re very much projects passion, a lot of the time and a lot of the time, those people who have the idea for the project, i mean, are really passionate about seeing it through because their patches passionate about their art form, passionate about their organization and which, you know, is is truly great. However, you know, the reason that we really went forward with this study was because in a way, way wanted teo see what rational elements we could pull out of this process and what rational elements we could bring to the table in for future projects. Because, you know, even though passion move the project, you really do have to think about the nuts and bolts of what’s actually going to be feasible. Down the line. Joanna veronica bitches with me she’s associate at the cultural policy center at the university of chicago and lead author of their study of building between nineteen, ninety four and two thousand eight among cultural institutions, what are some of the the markers of difficulty or sort of red flags? Well, way one of the other definitely one of the other elements in-kind sweet study was sort of what we called, how difficult the process ended up being. And, you know, they’re clear markers such as lawsuits and things like that, that i think anybody would agree that our elements of of difficulty, i mean, but really, it really had to do with, you know, a lot. Of the markers of difficult project had to do with all of the markers of success. So kind of if you think about the opposite so good earlier, right, that, you know, you needed leadership. The same leadership from the beginning into the end. Well, those projects that had a lot of turnover and executive leadership definitely had a tougher time down the line. Okay, so essentially the negatives of the success markers. That’s, right? Ok. Ok. I’m always interested in feasibility studies on dh because i think a lot of times that the organization that does the feasibility study has an interest in carrying on the work. So they want to have that they want to give a positive, um ah, positive projection to the charity so that they’ll be hired toe actually carry on the work. And i think that conflict exists a lot in campaign fund-raising feasibility studies. Do you think that exists here? Are there are there the same entities doing doing feasibility that also would carry the project through if if a project resulted? Yeah. You know, the feasibility studies are a good idea. And we saw our organizations do them. I mean, i almost every organizations we studied had a fund-raising feasibility study or community development feasibility study, but, you know, often often we the feasibility studies were useful for the organisation, but we also saw instances where if the feasibility study came back and didn’t give the results of the organization wanted, and sometimes we would be an organization, you get another feasibility study. Really? Oh, really, i did that with therapists therapist tells me something i don’t like. I just find a new therapist, but so organizations of doing that with their feasibility studies, some some are some are some are definitely not a general and general occurrence, but we did see a couple of instances. Okay? All right, well, that’s very disconcerting. Actually, we have just a couple of minutes left, and i’d like to just explore with you. Why? On a personal level? What? What motivates you about this research? Well, you know, funny now that you ask me this and it’s been part of my life for six or seven years now, and i wasn’t even it doesn’t even i can’t even remember how i got into it because it’s such a large part of my life now, honestly it comes from it. First comes from my love of the arts, and i’ve been in in the arts in some integral way, either working as an arts administrator, as an artist, as a a narc policy analyst sometime in my life, since i can remember that really does comes from my love for the art, and second to that i mean, because i do really value what the arts and culture contribute to society. I i do, and i’m very interested in sort of how to preserve the health of the sector as well, so that i would say probably what drives me to do all of this working honestly, it’s it’s incredibly interesting. I don’t know how you can not be interested in in all of the stories we got to hear this study and all of the great people that we met not an ivory tower academic at the university of chicago’s cultural policy center joanna veronica vich thank you very much. Thank you, it’s. Been a pleasure having you as a guest right now we take a break. And when we returned to tony’s, take two a little bit about last week’s show and a standup. Comedy clip. Stay with me. Talking alternative radio twenty four hours a day. Hi, this is nancy taito from speaks. Been radio speaks. Been. Radio is an exploration of the world of communication, how it happens in how to make it better, because the quality of your communication has a direct impact on the quality of your life. Tune in monday’s at two pm on talking alternative dot com, where i’ll be interviewing experts from business, academia, the arts and new thought. Join me mondays at two p m and get all your communications questions answered on speaks band radio. Hi, i’m carol ward from the body mind wellness program. Listen to my show for ideas and information to help you live a healthier life in body, mind and spirit, you’ll hear from terrific guests who are experts in the areas of health, wellness and creativity. So join me every thursday at eleven a, m eastern standard time on talking alternative dot com professionals serving community. Money, time, happiness, success, where’s, your breakthrough. Join me, nora simpson, as i bring you re a world tools for combining financial smarts with spiritual purpose. As a consultant to ceos, i’ve helped produce clear, measurable financial results while expanding integrity, passion and joy. Share my journey as we apply the science of achievement and the art of fulfillment. To create breakthroughs for people across the world. The people of creation nation listened to norah simpson’s creation nation. Fridays at twelve noon eastern on talking alternative dot com buy-in hey, all you crazy listeners looking to boost your business? Why not advertise on talking alternative with very reasonable rates? Interested simply email at info at talking alternative dot com zoho. Welcome back, some live listener love shoutout to nan you at new york and antelope california welcome, it’s time now for tony’s, take two at roughly thirty two minutes after the hour on my block this week, you’ll find a list of the winners from last week’s sorry from the one two weeks ago, the one hundredth show. Two weeks ago we gave away on our of free consulting and some books and t shirts, and those winners were listed on my block, but also there’s a couple of stand up comedy clips, too short ones from a gig that i did at the gotham comedy club back in january. And the reason that was on my mind is because i just did a gig last wednesday night at the gotham comedy club also, so i thought i would put a few clips on my blogged from the january gig, and i’m going to play one for you, right? Ah, yes, right now to get into law school. Or are there any lawyers clap? If you’re a lawyer and willing to do cool, you know, to get into law school, you have to take the law school admission test there’s. A part on this test. I could never get my mind around. Logical reasoning. There are eight red flags and six green flag. Each person can hold one or two flags there’s, an odd number of women and an even number of men seated around a rectangular table. Who ate the hut door for lunch? Okay, a little clip from last january this past january of gotham comedy club and there’s another clip on my block, which you’ll find at tony martignetti dot com, and that is tony’s take two for friday, july twenty seventh. Right now, i have a pre recorded interview from fund-raising day back in june, a couple of months ago with priti davidson about turning supporters into event honorees. Here’s that interview welcome to tony martignetti non-profit radio coverage of fund-raising day two thousand twelve in new york city were at the marriott marquis hotel in times square with me now is pretty davidson, and she is the director of development for the legal aid society of new york. Pretty welcome. Thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure. Thank you for taking time out on a very busy day. Your topic is converting supporters into event leaders. What type of leaders are you thinking about? We do one major fund-raising event every year. It’s, a corporate fundraiser for about a thousand people at the waldorf historia in every may on dh we have two honorees we do and one honoree from the legal community and one from the corporate community. The legal aid society is the oldest and largest not-for-profits public law firm in the country, and we have an extensive board made up of representatives from the top law firms in the country as well with headquarters in new york andare board is incredibly active, so generally we pick our legal honoree first, and it comes from our homegrown community of, um, from the legal community, okay, but i don’t see any reason to believe why this wouldn’t work for charities that have smaller galas and events resolutely your model, but what we’ve done this for? Well, well, well, we’ve done this event for thirty five years on dh i think in the last couple of years, what we’ve done differently is we’ve added a corporate honoree to try to expand our donor base from the legal community, broaden it to the corporate community and also you gonna fundez foundation fund-raising programming an individual donor program as well. Ok, now you’ve mentioned before we started that your model is different than traditional models, how is that? Back-up i think i think one thing that sets us apart is the deep roots that we have within the legal community there. Is no other charity that has the kind of commitment and the backing of the legal community that give us about close in nine million dollars a year, and so that those air relationships that some of them are over one hundred years old and those air very long term relationships that aren’t necessarily easily replicated owners who are over a hundred years the law firm’s air that, yes, the yes, some of our relationships with the firms are many, many years old, so we benefit from those long lasting relationships and are incredibly active board helps us pick our legal honoree on dh then we work closely with our with the legal honoree and with with the board again to to pick a corporate honoring, and we found that the model that works best is when the corporate honoree has some sort of a relationship to the legal honoree. Okay, so there’s a relationship there? Professional relationship, professional relationship. We’re able to leverage the relationship between the society and the honorees, thie honorees and their communities and their business communities in order to raise a cz much money is going on. Event leader, a gala leader, a leader of a gala of this sort could also be the chair doesn’t necessarily have to be the honoree. You include that the event chair in in your in your work, we do have a chair structure, we have chairs, vice chairs, we have a dinner committee and those air tied to giving levels, especially at the vice chair and dinner committee level dinner committee is anyone affiliated with a firmer corporation gives us ten thousand dollars in over or an individual and the vice chairs or twenty five thousand dollars, and over generally these air connected to our board, most of our board firms give it those leadership levels. Thie chairs are chosen in a number of ways. Thie honorees have an opportunity to pictures of their own on dh, then chairs are also appointed by the firms or the corporations that give it the highest levels. That would be the fifty hundred, one hundred fifty thousand dollar range on, and then we have honorary chairs, which our chairs in name only. Generally, they, they add, they bring a certain cachet to the events that usually very recognizable name, publicly recognizable name, but even around the honorary chairs is their expectations. About e-giving in a certain level, or or bringing a certain number of tables to the event? No, there is absolutely no expectation with the honorary chairs, their their their relationships that are held very closely, but by our honorees. And but i would say that in general honore teachers after the event will come back and make a gift to society in honor of the person. Okay, so what’s your advice about identifying the right people to be the the honorary arteries. So this is also where we’ve taken a little bit of a different approach, which i’m hoping will will will become more popular because it’s worked very well for us. We’re not looking for household names were not necessarily looking for people who everybody is going to be. Everybody would recognize if they looked at the invitation. We’re looking for people who are committed to raising money for us in the year that they’re being honored and we’re looking for people who may not have been necessarily honored in the past or sometimes over honored when lists air used over and over again, you go to the same well of people, you go to the same contacts. You don’t necessarily yield the best results, and i think they’re definitely unit new york is a really multifarious place, with many, many very successful people from different walks of life, and we’re thinking outside of the box when it comes to our corporate honorees and not necessarily looking for the name recognition, but looking for someone who’s really willing to roll up their sleeves and help us, the commitment is more important absolutely go absolutely and were very clear from the get go. What? What the expectations are what the commitment. Very next question. So how do you set the first? How do you determine what the expectations should be from honoree dahna region that that may vary from year to year? It does. So this is our our primary about this is this is the main event way did too. In the past and as many organizations have done, we scale backto one. And we put all of our resource is all of our staff time, all of our energy into this one event, and we have every reason because, yes, it is absolutely due to the reception recession excuse me? And it was probably about four years. Ago? Um, i’ve been at the legal aid society for three years, and i’ve i’ve helped oversee three dinners the first year was was very successful in my tenure because our new president, finn fog, became incredibly involved with this process, and i have to say that the fund-raising actually comes from our internal leadership. Our president are the chair of our board, our attorney in chief, members of our board are out there fund-raising forest constant that’s critical, and everybody doesn’t enjoy that they’d like to, but everybody doesn’t have that. This is one of the most active boards that i’ve ever professionally been involved with. So how about the the expectation setting for the honorees? So, it’s s o, i’m sorry to interrupt your sorry you’re setting the expectation at the point where you’re inviting to be an honor before they absolutely get it before they’ve except okay, so our model is is what is basically we’re looking for the trifecta the society raises a third, the corporate honoree raises the third in the legal on honoree raises a certain man, and this is this is not necessarily a strategy that that way set out with its one. That’s developed over the last three years, so in that first year we’re able to take this event used to raise just about a million dollars. In that first year, we’re able to raise two point, four million dollars with and that was the year that that set the tone for this model. So when we sit down with perspective, honorees and it’s generally not ah, host of leadership going to talk to that honoree it’s generally the person holding the closest relationship okay, the one on one conversation and were very clear about what the expectations aren’t it’s somewhere between eight hundred thousand and a million dollars and the and the expectations are in writing, the expectations were are not in writing during the point of where, when the commitment is being made afterwards, we do follow-up with very detailed timelines, and we cried a lot of administrative support. Another thing that’s been really crucial is that the honorees in the last three years have set aside some of their personal staff to help us so that we always have a lease on in their office and we’re working very, very closely and and quite seamlessly on this project. With them okay, okay are the expectations just about that money, but but not into sharing contacts and contact lists and vendor lists and things like the vendor? Listen, the contactless the business and personal contact lists are made available to us by the honorees. They’re sort of the expectations. It is definitely part of the expectation. It’s it’s the road map to how we raise that that kind of money, the other thing that we looked at very closely is where the common relationships, where the two honorees have a relationship in common, either with an individual, a firmer corporation or where the trifecta works really well is when all three of us have interest in the same entity, okay? And as you’re inviting people to be the honoree because they haven’t accepted yet, we’re still just setting the expectations. How do you explain that there’s benefit for them? A cz being honoree to be honored? I think the legal aid society is an incredibly prestigious and well known organization. We have a very, very prestigious board on dso. We’re talking about people who are asking other important business people to participate with them. An adventure that serves new york city there are over two million people living at or below the poverty line in new york city, and we address many incredibly crucial issues for them, and i think that our reputation is really well known. We have not had a problem so on then for smaller charities mean, what they might do is emphasize the value of their work, their niche that they serve in the community and help the honoree recognize that being allied with that level of with that type of work is valuable because we’re talking about someone who’s already committed to the organization and its work. So just thinking, you know, if someone doesn’t enjoy the reputation that legal aid society does it’s it’s really emphasizing your work and the of the alliance between the person or the corporate and or the corporation? Well, thunders generally want to help solve problems. So even for ah, smaller organization if if you’re able to make the case for for why your relevant why you’re crucial to whatever community or in larger small, i think of thunder is going to pay attention um, and and and i think funders are also interested in helping to raise the profile of worthy causes and using their name recognition in order to do that as well. Dafs you’re listening to the talking alternative network. Have you ever considered consulting a road map when you feel you need help getting to your destination when the normal path seems block a little? Help can come in handy when choosing an alternate route. Your natal chart is a map of your potentials. It addresses relationships, finance, business, health and, above all, creativity. Current planetary cycles can either support or challenge your objectives. I’m montgomery taylor. 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Today, your greatest athletic performance is just a phone call away at eight a one six zero four zero two nine four or visit aspire consulting. Dot vp web motivational coaching for athletic excellence aspire to greatness. Talking. Hyre right? So the next step let’s say the person has agreed they’ll be the honoree. What what happens now comes the sharing of the timeline and on dh support begins we we actually actually, prior to that joint during the courting phase, we prepare a packet of materials that includes the videos we do a video every year for for this dinner, some years it highlights clients and case studies some other years it highlights sort of our more are broader impact and some of the larger issues that may not that we may not be known for in the communities bond, so that that packet of information helps kind of situate the individual, especially the one from the corporate community, because they aren’t as familiar with our work is the legal community is on. Then, after they’ve made the commitment we set up, we usually do a breakfast to introduce them to our leadership are the chair of our board of our development committee, myself and my mind top person, the president and the attorney in chief. Way more to get to know you breakfast. I generally like to go and meet with their office on by people who are going to be on the ground face-to-face relationship that isn’t just by phone and e mail it’s absolutely crucial att some point and sometimes it’s it’s not always possible, but where possible i highly recommend it. I also think that you won’t have actually becoming what you worked very closely with them and friendly enjoy a close and friendly working relationship. And i think at the end of it, we all sort of breathe a sigh of relief because there definitely ups and downs and and and we’re kind of in it together in the trenches. And how soon before how early before a kn event do you begin the process? Thie well, so we just had our event on may tenth, and i think that night we started talking about next year s o we try to waste no time it’s not always possible. We try to get our honorees securities soon as possible, ideally before the end of the summer for, um, a event would would be great. We would do ah first round of letters that fall to their contactless. We also have the process when we when we when we obtain the contact list that we’ve to get it into our system and so there’s there’s um data entry involved there on preparing ourselves administratively to be able to handle the workload at some point in in either early december, before before the season hits or or if for whatever reason, were delayed in early january, we do a save the date, okay on dh, then we send way send directed solicitation letters to a number of people that we identify on the three list, the society’s list and the two honoree lists after that way do a lot of leg work, it’s a lot of getting in front of people and calling her contacts and keeping track of who’s calling who? So we’re not when, when their interests, when we’re interested in the same prospect that we’re not, we’re not double calling, right, right? Because between the three of you, that could be overlap, and it was a lot of other absolutely avoid that my office is responsible for making sure that coordinating all the efforts okay, onda about follow-up after the event with the chair with the sari with the with the honorees way, try to keep in in close contact with the honorees, to be perfectly honest, we could do better in this realm, and i think there’s a lot of non-profits that struggle with what to do after the dinner, clearly, with the honoree from our legal community, they will continue to sort of go back and be a part of that community. It’s it’s more of a challenge with a corporate honoree? They didn’t they didn’t come to us with with the relationship already established, and it is, i think, it’s naive to think that even though they did great work for us over the course of the year that we’re gonna have them as lifelong supporters, i think we’ve been very fortunate that we’ve had very generous honorees who continue to support the society after being honored, but we’re still we’re still trying to figure out how to continue to make that that connection beyond the event, we also has the best practice, you know, we will continue to communicate with people who came to the event and or made a gift to the event, but we don’t circulate. We don’t we don’t their lists don’t get absorbed into our database unless the person has has shown interest in being involved in some custody, and when you’re in the heat of the event, thes air may events so in early mayor mid may well, end of may will give me ten it’s really bad. All right, so so hyre mid april, too late april what’s what’s keeping you up, what’s what’s really the most one or two things that you’re most concerned about, right? Two to three weeks before you know, we we do, we do a lot of our fund-raising on the front end, it’s incredibly important, and i think part of the secret to our success, that and a best practice in fund-raising that we’ve been able to get, i’d say two thirds to three quarters were fund-raising done before the invitation goes out, so not stressing about about hitting the goal at that point, i think that they’re r i think the stress and legwork comes over the course of january, february and march, where we’re doing the bulk of the solicitation and fund-raising in order to get the names on the invite, and then we found that first year we raised, i think it was one point three million or one point, four million dollars. Before the invite went out in eight hundred thousand dollars, came in after that, i think people want to be a part of a success, and success breeds success and we could use the money. Ok, but so what is it now? I’m gonna ask you again, what a couple of weeks, two or three weeks before, what is it that’s keeping you awake? Details it’s, you know, seating a thousand people for dinner is not easy there constant changes getting those lists, getting guests lists to come. I mean, there there are people there last minute changes that happened an hour before the event and making sure that our ducks in a row but i have to say that i’m not stressing anymore. This is our third my third year of doing this with it, with a great team and with a great with great invent consultants, we use susan ulan associates, they’re fantastic and i’m not stressing actually go in the weeks before the event and this year actually enjoyed the event xero which was a first for me and all right, so why did you leave listeners with just one tip? If you have to say there’s one thing that they really should take away from converting the there there’s serious, they’re they’re hyre level donors and committed people, too. Two honoree, what would that be? Well, i think that we’re very fortunate that philanthropy is very much a part of american culture and it’s been ingrained in all of us at some point to be involved in our communities and give back i thinkit’s a deeply american construct, and i feel that, you know, converting a leadership into honorees is a process. It takes time and it’s a process that it’s again it’s, another level of relationship building that, you know, if we’re able to make the compelling arguments to an outside audience, that we know why our organization’s make a difference in this world, that message is very clear, and i think that there’s a lot of people were incredibly receptive to that. So while it might take a little bit of time if it’s done the right way, you’ll have lasting results. Thank you very much. Pretty davidson is director of development for the legal aid society of new york. Been a pleasure having you as a guest. Thankyou. Thankyou, tony. My pleasure, tony. Martignetti non-profit radio coverage of fund-raising day two thousand twelve at the marriott marquis in new york city my thanks too pretty and also the organizer’s of fund-raising day and, of course, also to joanna veronica vich i hope you’ll be with me next week. I hope you’ll be listening next week. It’s audit week you’re hr owed it starts off karen bradunas human resource is consultant returns to the show there may be things hiding in your hr closet that you need to bring out and dust off to avoid problems later on, we’ll talk about your benefits, plan immigration, paperwork and that’s not only for immigrants and what to do if you get audited by federal or state regulators and then your social media audit, scott koegler continues our discussion from the one hundredth show on sites that help you assess how you’re doing in social media sites like hoot suite market me sweet and radiant. Six scott’s the editor of non-profit technology news and our regular tech contributor. We’re all over social media you can’t make a click without sparkle a testa it’s a tony martignetti non-profit radio means you can’t make a quick without smacking your head into us, but today, just focus on linkedin linked in group is probably a couple of months old now. Next time you’re on linked in for podcast listeners, please join the group comment on the show or there’s also an active discussion going on now about about social media so it doesn’t have to it’s not limited to subjects on this show. Please join the linked in group and i want to start wishing you good luck and good fortune in the words of artists throughout the world and this week i’m starting with italian in boca lupo, which means in the mouth of the wolf, and you would say that to someone as just as they’re going on stage in italy. In boca lupo, our creative producer is claire meyerhoff. Sam liebowitz is our line producer shows social media is by regina walton of organic social media and the remote producer of tony martignetti non-profit radio is john federico of the new rules. I very much hope you’ll be listening. Listening next week or the week will be on friday one to two p m eastern at talking alternative dot com in bocca al lupo i didn’t think that shooting. Good ending. You’re listening to the talking alternative network. Get in. Hi, this is nancy taito from speaks been radio speaks been radio is an exploration of the world of communication, how it happens in how to make it better, because the quality of your communication has a direct impact on the quality of your life. Tune in monday’s at two pm on talking alternative dot com, where i’ll be interviewing experts from business, academia, the arts and new thought. Join me mondays at two p m and get all your communications questions answered on speaks been radio. Are you stuck in your business or career trying to take your business to the next level and it keeps hitting a wall? This is sam liebowitz, the conscious consultant. I will help you get to the root cause of your abundance issues and help move you forward in your life. Call me now and let’s create the future you dream of. Two, one, two, seven, two, one, eight, one, eight, three that’s to one to seven to one eight one eight three the conscious consultant helping conscious people be better business people. You’re listening to talking alternative network at www dot talking alternative dot com, now broadcasting twenty four hours a day. This is tony martignetti aptly named host of tony martignetti non-profit radio. Big non-profit ideas for the other ninety five percent technology fund-raising compliance, social media, small and medium non-profits have needs in all these areas. My guests are expert in all these areas and mohr. Tony martignetti non-profit radio fridays one to two eastern on talking alternative broadcasting are you concerned about the future of your business for career? Would you like it all to just be better? Well, the way to do that is to better communication. And the best way to do that is training from the team at improving communications. This is larry sharp, host of the ivory tower radio program and director at improving communications. Does your office need better leadership? Customer service sales or maybe better writing are speaking skills? Could they be better at dealing with confrontation conflicts, touchy subjects all are covered here at improving communications. If you’re in the new york city area, stop by one of our public classes or get your human resource is in touch with us. The website is improving communications, dot com that’s improving communications, dot com improve your professional environment. Be more effective, be happier. And make more money. Improving communications. That’s. The answer. Dahna
