What if Your Executive Director Wins the Lottery? Tips for Nonprofit Succession Planning

Most of us have fantasized about what we’d do if we were to win big on the lottery.

Among the thoughts of dream vacations, a new home, or becoming a philanthropist, usually comes the question: what about work? Are you staying or taking early retirement?

Your executive director probably dreams of winning the lottery, too. While that will likely remain a dream, there are still many other potential reasons why an executive director may decide that it’s time to move on. They might have a sudden emergency requiring that they leave quickly, they may retire, or a new career opportunity may arise.

Regardless of the reason for departure, it’s a big deal for most nonprofits. Who is ready to succeed in your executive director role? The transition can be tricky, which is one reason why your nonprofit should have a succession plan in place.

Succession planning involves documenting policy and procedures for what to do if an executive director (or other key roles) leaves the organization. It also covers preparing for this eventuality before it ever happens. The aim is to facilitate a smooth transition.

This article discusses helpful tips to ensure that succession planning goes smoothly for your nonprofit. Find out what to prepare and how to prepare it.

Why Is Succession Planning Important for Nonprofits?

There are two key elements to succession planning that ensure nonprofits can continue with minimal interruption: emergency planning and long-term planning.

Emergency planning covers situations such as “the executive director just won the lottery” or “the director of philanthropy is sick and needs to take extended leave.” In other words, emergency planning is for sudden departures or extended absences (typically three or more months).

Long-term succession planning is a process for planned retirements or the possibility of key staff members moving on. Long-term planning generally involves activities such as training other team members for the tasks associated with the role.

Succession planning is important in both forms for the following reasons…

Continuation With “Business as Usual”

In the for-profit sector, companies refer to “business continuation planning” as part of their succession plans. The nonprofit sector has this need, too; nothing should grind to a halt within operations just because a key person isn’t there.

For example, consider processes such as sign-off on hiring or spending. In many nonprofits, the sudden departure of the executive director would leave such requests in limbo and could severely impact the organization’s ability to complete its mission. Succession planning helps to define responsibilities so that important tasks can continue.

Nonprofits need succession planning to continue with “business as usual”

Answers Key Questions for the Nonprofit

What happens if the executive director departs and there isn’t a succession plan? For many boards, this would lead to months spent trying to answer key questions that a succession plan would have resolved for them. Questions such as:

• How do we fill the position? Do we hire externally or promote internally?

• How do we address any concerns of staff or donors over the departure of leadership?

• What do we need for this position? Do we need to adjust the job description?

• What do we do if an interim plan is required? Who acts in the role, and what does their contract determine?

• How long should the succession process take?

• Who will be the organization’s spokesperson for this period?

Succession planning, in case of an emergency and for the long term, answers these questions so you’re not spending your time scrambling to make arrangements.

Reassure Donors

Leadership's departure from your nonprofit can leave your key donors uncertain and hesitant to commit funds. Effective succession planning and a commitment to continuation reassures your donors and can help limit the financial impact on your nonprofit. Basically, the donors want to know that your organization will run with at least the same level of skill and competence as before.

Preserve Valuable Knowledge

When the executive director or any other key team members depart, there’s always a risk that valuable knowledge goes with them. For example, they tend to have vast networks of contacts and knowledge about specific vital areas for the organization.

Succession planning should include a plan to harness and preserve that knowledge so it’s not lost to the organization. It can otherwise take years to build back up.

Tips for Nonprofit Succession Planning

Let’s look at some general tips for both emergency and planned succession.

Emergency Succession Planning

In many cases, the executive director drafts an emergency succession plan and presents it to the board for approval. They know the role well and can generally cover all the aspects needed for the plan. This is the “we know we need it, but hope we never actually need to use it” plan.

Some key aspects to include in an emergency succession plan include:

• Naming the first and second acting successors. This may be by name or by job role.

• Identify any limitations the acting successor may have in their role. These limitations are usually noted along with how they can get approval. For example, if it’s signing off on spending over a certain amount or the ability to fire staff, who do they go to for sign-off?

• Identify any contingencies needed for the acting successor’s current position. It’s difficult to fill in and do two jobs well!

• Contractual elements for the acting successor. For example, how will they be compensated?

• The top three to five priorities from the strategic plan; these are essential for the executive director role.

• The interim responsibilities of the acting successor.

• Define an internal and external communication plan. This should also state who is responsible for what communication and when.

• Define a training plan for interim appointees. This should also include clear directions about where and how they can seek help.

• A process to select a new permanent person in the role.

What If You Don’t Have a Plan Yet?

If a key executive leaves suddenly and you don’t have an emergency succession plan, then you need your board to convene as soon as possible to complete some key tasks. Here’s what to consider:

1. Naming an interim spokesperson for the organization. Word tends to get out if an executive director leaves, and people will want questions answered.

2. Prepare a communication plan, covering internal and external communications.

3. Define a process to hire a new executive. This should include deciding whether you’d like to promote from within or hire externally.

4. Identify an interim executive and approve compensation for them. Define their responsibilities and any limitations on their role.

5. Identify a support person (or persons) for the interim director.

6. Form a committee to search for a new, permanent director.

Planned Successions

Planned successions are always the preference because you have time to get effective systems and processes in place. However, even a planned succession can have challenges. For example, you’d generally expect the incumbent executive director to support succession and transition activities, but sometimes they struggle to hand over the reins. You may want an experienced board member acting as a “champion” for the succession process. Similar to our recommended overall champion role for strategic planning, a succession planning champion increases accountability to the process. They are committed to ensuring the plan is implemented and they provide the needed support for team members during the transition.

When entering into a planned succession, your board should carefully define how they want the role to operate and whether they want any changes. For example, would your organization benefit from a different style of leadership? Do the responsibilities of the role need to evolve?

Planned successions can be challenging; the successor must have credibility with team members and stakeholders. If they don’t, they may not last in the role.

When the board has decided that they’d like significant changes in the leadership role, many organizations deliberately choose to hire an interim executive director for a period first. This can help to keep the mission moving forward while providing room for a cultural shift and for the organization to embrace a different kind of leader.

A defined succession plan should include:

• Reflection from the outgoing executive: what were their personal and professional challenges in the role? What went particularly well?

• If the departing executive was a founder or if they will remain directly involved for any other reason, that involvement should have defined parameters. For example, maybe they will be a resource or facilitate contact with their own network but won’t be involved in decision-making.

• An updated job description for the role. This should include the top three to five strategic objectives for the role, core competencies, required experience, and preferred leadership style.

• A communication plan that covers all stakeholders, both internal and external.

• A professional development plan. It’s imperative if you’d like to hire internally. You need to identify the key development areas required and who should be trained in those areas. This is an ideal time to identify leadership development opportunities for staff and board members so that the organization can maintain a “deep bench.”

• An plan to provide support to newly placed team members. They might need coaching, mentorship, and help with defining goals.

• An onboarding plan. It usually covers at least the first 90 days in the role and defines some clear goals from the board. It should include orientation and a structured feedback process.

Many nonprofit boards opt to form an executive hiring committee to oversee succession planning and the procedures around hiring a new executive. Sometimes it is also beneficial to engage a transitional coach to help facilitate a successful transition. Doing so is especially helpful if the changes become complex or challenging. Whatever the case, successful transitions come from planning and a commitment to managing them well.

Conclusion

For your nonprofit, succession planning is critical to ensure that your mission keeps moving forward. Whether it is a sudden, emergency departure or a planned departure with a longer lead time, you need to be able to move ahead while maintaining the trust of your key stakeholders.

Somewhere, someone is winning the lottery or finding out they need to take an extended leave of absence. Someone else is preparing for retirement or a new job offer. If that someone happens to be your executive director or another senior role, you need a plan to keep their role in the organization functional. Your succession plan, in partnership with a strategic plan, will provide a blueprint for continuing forward momentum for your nonprofit during a time of transition.

The Value of Nonprofit Board Management Software

Keeping your busy volunteer board of directors organized and on track can be difficult. You need everyone to have easy access to real-time board documents while avoiding information “silos.”

Board management software provides a collaborative way for your team members to share information with each other, gain ready access to high-level information about your nonprofit, manage meetings, and have the ability to store board-related documents.

If you’re looking to streamline communication and create an efficient, collaborative environment for your nonprofit board, choosing effective board management software should be a priority.

What is Nonprofit Board Management Software and Why Do You Need It?

The software review company, Capterra, provides a useful definition of board management software:

“Board management software is a tool that helps an organization’s board of directors manage their responsibilities of strategic planning and performance reviews. It provides a virtual platform for the board to hold meetings, record minutes, share and review documents, and vote on business affairs. It also acts as a database for important documents and information the board might need to have handy.”

One of the primary reasons that board management software is invaluable for nonprofits is that it can bring organization to an otherwise somewhat disorganized group of volunteers. Unlike managing your work team, who are all familiar with your systems and engage daily, volunteer boards are often made up of people with different technological capabilities and only focus on their board work from time-to-time. When you start asking them to use Google Drive, Dropbox, Zoom, and a selection of other organizational platforms, it’s almost inevitable that at least some will fall out of the technology loop.

A streamlined and focused software package designed specifically for the needs of a board is a simple and “single source of truth.” You can keep your board members better engaged when they don’t have to keep hopping around between systems. In a sense, you’re helping your board to help your nonprofit.

Some Broad Selection Criteria for Board Management Software

If you were to do a Google search for “board management software,” you would quickly become inundated with potential options. Some true board management software are built specifically for the needs of nonprofit boards, whereas others are generic packages that claim to cope with board management.

The remedy to avoid being overwhelmed with options is to set some clear criteria for your board management software. It’s something to invest in for the long haul, so it’s worth taking the time to make the right choice in the first place.

What are some broad criteria should you have? Here are some examples:

• The software should be cloud-based. With your board spread in different locations, the software must be available anytime. Additionally, people should know they’re always looking at the most recent document version, and the software should be regularly updated. Cloud-based software is the solution because everything lives online and is immediately available to all who have access. This makes it much easier to disseminate important information because people will know to check the software as the main repository of knowledge.

• It should be user-friendly. Not all of your board members have the same experience with technology, so ease of use is necessary. The board management software must adapt to each user's skill level.

  One of Mission Met's principles for strategic planning is "simplicity," and that’s evident in the design of Causey, our strategic planning software that also has features that can support board management. This doesn't mean there won't be a learning curve, but the software should be easy to learn.

  Want your board to adopt new software? This is often difficult when the board feels like it’s just one more thing they have to do. One key criterion in selecting your software is finding something simple to use with clear onboarding tools that facilitate adoption.

• There should be a solid support system. The “help” function provided by software makers should never be overlooked. Nothing is more frustrating to a user than when they can’t easily get the help they need. Your choice of board management software should always have a system in place to answer any questions or fix any bugs.

• The software should be collaborative. Your volunteer board will usually be working on their various responsibilities in their own time. You can’t allow information silos, or someone won’t have the full picture needed to make key decisions.

  Collaborative board management software allows multiple people access to work collectively. It provides everyone with access to the most up-to-date information to add their thoughts or use that information to make their own decisions.

• The software should be budget-friendly. Budget is often a primary concern for nonprofits. Consider the cost and ROI based on the software’s features and how it can optimize the efficiency of your organization. Additionally, finding software that offers a trial period can make it easier to determine if the software is the right fit for your nonprofit.

• The software should meet high security standards. Your board management software stores sensitive data, and you need to know it will protect your information. Top software options should always prioritize data security and have robust protocols.

Specific Features Useful to Boards

Once you’ve narrowed your choices based on broad criteria, such as those outlined above, it’s time to get more feature-specific. You’re looking for those must-have features designed to help your board manage their work more effectively.

Board management software can help with leadership development, good governance, and, ultimately, help your nonprofit advance its mission. Here are some features that are particularly useful:

• Document storage. You'll appreciate this if you’ve ever hunted high and low for a certain document. Document storage keeps all the documents the board needs in a central location. No more combing through emails or clicking around through different storage applications. The right board management software can store everything from policy documents to meeting agendas.

• Different levels of access. In most organizations, you want team members to only have access to areas that directly pertain to their work. Board management software with permission controls allows administrators to limit access to various parts of the software.

• Access to the strategic plan. All processes and goals should be captured in the software so that boards always have access to the high-level information they need.

• Board development and recruitment. If you opt for board management software that can manage the recruitment process and keep track of training, you’ll have a true one-stop shop for board members.

Have an Implementation Champion

How do nonprofits and other organizations successfully onboard new software? One invaluable lesson is to have an “implementation champion” or champions. This is a person on your team committed to ensuring that new software is implemented well. They assess what is needed to set up the software and get all users up-to-speed. The champion also acts as a point of contact for any questions or concerns.

Just like strategic planning, the success of adopting board management software is dependent upon having a champion. You need someone who will be relentless about executing the implementation and encourage team members to use it regularly; otherwise, learning and using new software can result in the members’ “something I’ll get around to later” pile.

Causey Features for Boards

Causey has features that support basic board management such as:

• Document Storage and Links. For some of your board members, Causey can be easier to access and utilize than other document-sharing tools like Google Drive and Dropbox. Causey allows you to store documents or links within a set of customized folders, such as:

Board meeting minutes -- organized by date

Committee folders -- keep your committees’ documents organized

Board recruitment -- onboarding processes and documents

Official documents – including bylaws, articles of incorporation, and other documents

Board development – resources and training

Financial information – budgets and spending

Fundraising -- plans and records

• Board Accountability. Causey offers accountability by assigning goals and tasks as part of a strategic plan and sends automated reminders about various aspects of a strategic plan to appropriate team members.

• Key Metrics. Boards typically love to track key metrics to see how a nonprofit is progressing. The Metrics application allows board members to compile important data, progress charts, and measure progress on their overall strategy and goals.

• Document Sharing. You can easily share documents via PDF, spreadsheet, or a view-only link (commonly shared with external funders or potential donors).

Final Thoughts

Board management software can make a massive difference in the overall efficiency of your nonprofit board’s operations. It's a way to gather your critical information in one spot, so no one is left digging around, frantically trying to find the document that could be stored in several systems.

More than that, it’s about visibility across essential strategic endeavors. Board management software provides your board with both the high-level view and more granular detail they need to make decisions. This helps you to advance your mission as effectively as possible.

Best Practices for Onboarding a Director to Your Nonprofit Board

Picture this:

You get hired at a company with little knowledge of what your job will entail. You love the organization and have enough expertise in certain areas that the people in charge thought you’d add value, but you’re a little confused about the specifics.

Your vague, generic title doesn’t help much, and you don’t know anyone in the office to ask for clarity or feel welcomed.

The only thing you do know is that you’re one of the few people in charge of overseeing the whole organization, and you are legally responsible for upholding its values and stewarding it well.

You might be able to work out the kinks over time, but it’d be pretty hard to hit the ground running, right?

Unfortunately, it can feel like this for the new directors added to your board if they don’t have a thorough onboarding process.

We want to help you avoid this kind of confusion, so we’ve created a set of best practices for onboarding nonprofit board members.

An Orientation Overview

All successful onboarding starts with a thorough orientation.

The orientation process should introduce your new board member to their basic roles, responsibilities, and policies while also giving them a deeper knowledge of your nonprofit’s mission and vision.

The trickiest part of the orientation is ensuring that everything gets covered, especially in a world where most meetings happen virtually.

Boardsource has a helpful checklist that helps you stay on track as it highlights key areas like the nonprofit’s programs, organizational history, and strategic direction.

You’ll want to include a comprehensive review of your nonprofit’s strategic plan. This overview will help lay a strong foundation for the new board member and give them an idea of where your organization is headed.

In addition to these high-level concepts, the checklist also suggests covering:

• Finances

• Organizational structure

• Board roles/individual board member responsibilities

• Board operations

The checklist helps ensure that you don’t miss any major steps during the initial orientation, but you should also feel comfortable adapting it to fit the specific needs of your nonprofit.

A board member’s role description tailored to your nonprofit’s board can also help bring immediate clarity to the position. Here’s an example from Boardsource that outlines both the role of the board as a whole and specific board members.

The Council of Nonprofits also advises organizations to “include any expectations about personal giving/fundraising efforts” in the role description to ensure those expectations don’t slip through the cracks. Beyond that, they also suggest covering:

• Special issue(s) that are specific to your nonprofit's vision and mission

• Governance policies

• Accountability practices

• The responsibility to evaluate the performance and compensation of the executive director

Steps to Take Before the First Boarding Meeting

A thorough orientation kicks off the onboarding process, but it’s not like everything just falls into place right after that.

You can take additional steps to orient new members before the first meeting to help ease the transition and set the board up for success.

Send a Welcome Announcement to Supporters

Boardable recommends welcoming the new member into the organization publicly via a newsletter, social media post, or changes on the website. Doing this serves two purposes:

1. Shows the board member that you are excited to have them on your team

2. Gives donors and supporters a chance to stay up-to-date about the organization

Schedule a Visit or a Get-Together with Other Board Members

Board members work closely with one another, and relational dynamics play a big role in developing your board’s culture. That culture will ultimately influence how each person works with the other and how effective your board is.

Hosting an event for your new director to meet and engage with existing board members and key staff can help foster the relationships in a more neutral environment than the first board meeting.

You can get two birds with one stone by hosting the get-together at your nonprofit’s main facility, if that’s possible. By doing so, you have a chance to show the new member around your physical space while also introducing them to other people.

It may not be feasible to get together in person in today's world, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get together. Virtual hangouts or introductions can still make your new member feel comfortable and welcomed at your organization.

Get Their Tech Set Up

As the digital world expands into the nonprofit sphere, more organizations have begun to use tech solutions to help manage their marketing, teams, donors, finances, and other administrative needs.

These tools help the day-to-day operations run more smoothly, but they require a bit of legwork at the beginning. Ensure that your new board member has access to whatever software solutions they need for success early on.

A crucial element is getting them added to the appropriate email lists. Doing this will ensure they receive important communication from the organization, helping them stay connected with what’s going on between board meetings.

Assign a Board Buddy

Have you ever been invited to something and checked the guestlist for someone you know before committing to go?

We do that because we don’t like to show up to places feeling like we don’t belong. A nonprofit board is no different, even when the meetings happen over zoom.

Your new board members may not speak up or contribute much if they feel uncomfortable. Even those that have experience in other areas may struggle to find their stride with your organization at the beginning.

Assigning a board buddy, or mentor, who has more experience around the nonprofit can help the new director settle in. Boardable recommends that a new board buddy:

• Have one-on-one meetings with the new board member

• Connect before the first few meetings

• Have follow-up conversations after the first few meetings to clarify any points or answer questions

Encourage Board Chair Follow-Ups

Board buddies aren’t the only ones who get to follow-up with the new members. The Council of Nonprofits suggests that your board chair talk with your new member after they agree to serve but before the first meeting.

This communication helps clarify any missing pieces to your new director and can also “set the stage for positive communication and a productive relationship with the board chair.”

Ongoing Learning and Development Until Offboarding Begins

Successful onboarding comes down to getting your new board members comfortable with your organization so they can excel in their roles.

But it’s not like there’s some wall we cross over, and a person magically “gets it.” Board members can constantly grow and improve their knowledge about the nonprofit sphere, especially if they don’t have a ton of experience before serving.

Most come in with a passion for the cause or love for the organization but may have little knowledge about the ins and outs of running a nonprofit.

You can help educate your board by offering additional resources or pointing them to learning and development opportunities like conferences, seminars, or webinars. The more they know, the more they can help your nonprofit flourish. Boardsource puts it like this:

“​​Continuous — and collective — learning opportunities will help deepen your board members’ understanding of their roles and responsibilities and of your organization and the environment in which it operates, which, in turn, will increase their effectiveness and value to your organization.”

The ongoing learning will help keep your board members engaged and active with best practices until their time with the organization ends. When that time comes, you can check out our article on offboarding directors.

The Ultimate Benefit of a Thorough Onboarding Process

The more success your board has, the better off your nonprofit will be. Getting a new board member started with a thorough onboarding process can help jumpstart that success.

Yes, it takes time up front to develop your onboarding process. Just like with strategic planning, once you have the process dialed in, you will be able to use the framework to establish a great starting point for any member of your team.

How Having a Strategic Plan Will Help You Raise Significantly More Money

If you’re like most nonprofit leaders, figuring out how to keep your organization financially stable is perhaps your biggest pain point.

Individual donors, foundations, and granting agencies will often donate to your organization because their heart connects to your mission—helping children, pursuing social justice, teaching the arts, etc. However, for funders to support you many times, you have to appeal to their logical senses. To do that, your strategic plan can demonstrate that your organization is committed to executing your vision, and funders will be happy to support your well-run nonprofit.

With a strategic plan—and strong mission statements and vision statements—your nonprofit’s team will feel confident and aligned with your fundraising objectives. And an organization with positive energy towards their strategic objectives will stand out to funders more than a nonprofit that isn't tuned in to their organizational health and will keep their promises. 

What data do we have to back this up? In 2020, Mission Met conducted a fundraising survey to learn more about the relationship between strategic planning and fundraising. From the 169 nonprofit leaders that participated, 86% of respondents said that having a strategic plan had a positive impact on generating revenue through grants, donors, events, etc. And respondents that regularly reviewed, revised, and measured their strategic plan were over six times more likely to generate revenue as a result of their plan.  

Want to read more details on the relationship between strategic planning and positive fundraising results? Check out this guidance on how to improve your fund building in Mission Met’s article on how strategic planning will raise you significantly more money on NonProfit PRO’s blog!

A Fresh Approach for Your Nonprofit Advisory Council

Have you heard the old joke that a camel is a horse designed by a committee?

Well, all too often that’s what happens with the design of nonprofit advisory councils. Perfectly fine councils get turned into overly complex bodies that can become burdensome to manage. That’s the last thing that you want when you already have a lot on your plate running and leading your organization.

We’ve written about simple ways to run your board committees. In this article we’ll share our fresh perspective about advisory councils that are easy to manage and provide the benefits you want for your nonprofit.

A Council, Not a Board

It’s important to note that throughout this article we use the term advisory council. That’s in contrast to the more common term of an advisory board used throughout the nonprofit sector and in the articles that we reference.

Our use of the term “council” is deliberate. We think that for many small and midsize nonprofits, calling this group an advisory board is a mistake.

Councils typically differ from other groups like your board of directors or committees. A board is a more formal organizational body that requires clear management, officers, rules, etc. A smooth-running committee, too, has documented guidelines, a chair, and clear processes that help it address one topic or project (such as financial management, fund development, governance, board recruitment, etc.) By calling the advisory body a council you can communicate something entirely different: a group that provides guidance in a more informal way.

A more informal structure for an advisory council is what we’ve found works best for most small and medium-sized nonprofits. For example, one organization that we’ve worked with for years has an exceptionally beneficial advisory council that the board and staff love. It has about fifteen people that provide guidance on legal, indemnity, programmatic, and fundraising topics. They have never met as a full group and don’t have a chair or any officers. They are simply a loosely organized group of advisors that the board and executive staff call upon, as needed. It works beautifully and doesn’t create any unnecessary management responsibilities for the already taxed board and staff. With the advisory council’s support, the organization always exceeds its fundraising goals and receives exceedingly high marks on its programs.

Of course, you can set up a more formal council. But the key point of this article is that you can have an extremely beneficial advisory council that is loosely organized. So, if you’ve hesitated to form an advisory council because of a perception that it will be too much to manage, that doesn’t have to be the case.

Your Council’s Purpose

So, what should be the purpose of your advisory council?

Regardless of how you organize your council, it’s core purpose is to provide guidance and support to your board and executive staff. (In a prior blog post we discussed the council’s relationship to the board.)

The council is not, typically, a decision-making body. That’s the realm of your board of directors.

What the council provides guidance on depends on your nonprofit’s needs. According to an article from Boardable, “at their core, all advisory boards have a single goal: to help the nonprofit organization.” Boardable mentions that advisory councils can play these types of roles:

• Governance

• Fundraising

• Young Professionals

• Letterhead

• Programmatic

Some councils play multiple roles and focus on multiple topics. It just depends on what you want and need. Look around your organization and find the things that require additional insight. That’s where you may find the purpose.

Once you have clarified your council’s purpose, it’s important to document it to make sure everyone is on the same page. Take it from Sherri Dunn Berry, who explains in this cautionary story that a lack of clarity around expectations led to difficulties with the advisory council of a fiscally-sponsored project.

Whatever role your council plays, it must be defined and documented so that everyone in your organization is clear about its purpose.

Who Should Be On Your Advisory Council?

The members of your advisory council should be selected based upon its stated purpose. They may include community members, board members (past or present), donors, subject matter experts, and anyone else who can provide value to the organization and promote the council’s role in the organization.

If your council has a general purpose then you may want a cross-section of members from your community. In an article for Blue Avocado, Jan Masaoko suggests that a community leader can “act as a spokesperson for the organization in the community.” If your council has a leader then she proposes that an active board member could serve as a possible alternative to lead the council.

Caroline Hoy adds that retired board members may be a good fit if they “have valuable history with the organization and can provide perspective to the discussion.” Additionally, she mentions subject matter experts “who understand the bigger picture in your field and can give context to your plan.”

Other possibilities for members include:

• Long-time volunteers with a clear understanding of your nonprofit’s mission

• Invested donors looking to serve but who aren’t a good fit for the board

• Potential donors who will have the opportunity to connect with the organization more deeply

• Diverse representatives of the community you’re trying to serve who can speak from their unique experiences

The council can be made up of anyone who cares deeply about the issue and offers valuable insight into the topics at hand.

Council members are happy to have their name associated with the organization and can pick up the phone or respond to an email when needed. The point is to make sure the council meets the organization’s needs and that the expectations are clear from the beginning to prevent confusion and conflict.

Keep Things Simple

An advisory council should benefit your organization, not stand in the way of its success. They play an important but unique role in any nonprofit, and just because something is important doesn’t mean it needs to be complicated.

In our experience, the perception of formality can scare nonprofit leaders away from forming advisory councils. Nonprofits that understand that councils can be loosely organized often have the most success with them.

With that approach your council will be a well-designed horse instead of a humpy camel.

Key Questions to Ask Before You Start Your Capital Campaign

Capital campaigns that end well, start strong.

As we referenced in our recent article, successful capital campaigns begin with a comprehensive planning phase. This phase includes laying out your goals, establishing your strategy, and setting deadlines.

Starting in this phase can feel a bit intimidating, which is why we’ve laid out a set of key questions your team can use to frame your planning efforts.

Answering these questions will help you and your team gain an accurate and clear understanding of the campaign description, size, and scope.

(We’d like to thank Andy Eber at Partnership Resources Group for assistance with this article.)

Questions for Fundamental Planning

Does your organization have a current strategic plan?

Strategic plans are essential to nonprofit success. They provide a host of benefits such as:

• Alignment between staff and team

• Confidence for donors to invest

• Measurable goals

• An actionable path to accomplish the organization’s mission

Your strategic plan isn’t something you set and forget, either. You should revisit and revise as changes occur.

In the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) guide “Getting Ready for a Capital Campaign,” author Linda Lysakowski notes that “It is also crucial that the board ‘own’ or buy into this strategic plan. A good indication of ownership is that the board has developed a financial plan to support the goals and objectives of the strategic plan.”

A current and well-executed strategic plan will help set you up for success in your capital campaign.

What is the clear purpose and scope for the capital campaign?

A strategic plan outlines clear goals for your organization as a whole, but you need an equally detailed vision for your capital campaign.

The more specific you can be, the better. Donor Search defines a capital campaign as “a targeted fundraising effort that takes place over a defined period of time.” Your job in this planning stage is to determine the focus of the targets. Are you planning on building or purchasing a building? Buying some land? Creating an endowment fund? Whatever your targeted purpose and scope is, be sure to be clear and provide as many specifics as possible so you can plan accordingly.

What is the projected time frame?

Did you notice the second part of Donor Search’s definition?

It mentions a defined period of time.

Capital campaigns don’t last forever. Most take 2-3 years to complete, depending on your goal. Having a realistic time frame set at the beginning will help your organization stay on task and work together to keep things moving at a steady pace.

Questions for Funding Goals and Resources

What is the financial goal of the campaign?

This question helps you define the “capital” part of your campaign: how much do you want to raise?

If you’re hoping to construct a building, for example, be sure to include the costs for the project’s infrastructure and planning. Kevin Wallace of Campaign Counsel points out, “Most nonprofits mistakenly only include the obvious costs, like construction. Your capital campaign project budget should include cost estimates for the expenses that follow.”

Remember to also include the cost of managing and leading the campaign itself. As a benchmark, Wallace says that most donors will consider it acceptable for the cost to be 15% or less of the overall campaign goal. He also notes that anything less than 10% is often seen as “very efficient.” The larger the campaign, the smaller the percentage.

Who are the top donors that will provide leadership gifts for the campaign?

In the AFP guide, Lysakowski writes, “It is a proven fact that, no matter what the size of the campaign, 5-10 percent of donors will provide 90-95 percent of the goal of the campaign.”

You probably already have a few top donors in mind that can provide leadership gifts, which is why it’s so important to build and maintain those relationships as part of the quiet phase of the campaign.. Lysakowski says that neglecting those relationships will make it harder to identify, cultivate, and solicit major gifts for the campaign.

Who are the next thirty donors that can provide major gifts for the campaign?

After pursuing and securing key leadership gifts, the next part of the quiet phase is to approach those donors that can provide major gifts.

While a leadership gift may be $500,000, a major gift may be $25,000.

Roy Jones provides some differentiation between leadership gifts and major gifts in this article.

What percentage of your campaign funding will come from charitable donations, bonds, equity, financing, and lending?

Not all donors will simply write you a check. Some will prefer to give through other, more complex gifts such as equity or loans.

Considering and estimating the percentage of these gifts ahead of time will help you manage those funds properly.

Questions for Your Organization’s Leadership and Experience

What is your staff and board’s experience with capital campaigns?

A lack of experience does not necessarily lead to a lack of success. We’ve seen many first-timers lead extremely successful campaigns. However, they also received a significant amount of guidance from experienced campaign consultants. While it is possible to overcome any lack of experience, planning for it will help your campaign succeed.

Is there a strong, committed board of directors in place that will support the proposed campaign?

Acquiring agreement among board members for the need of a capital campaign is an absolute must. Even minor disagreements could become public, which Lysakowski says could cause people to “lose confidence in the organization and the campaign.” There’s too much at stake to risk it, so it’s better to make sure everyone is basically on board before you begin.

Does the executive director have the time and space to engage in a capital campaign?

Running a capital campaign is hard and time-consuming work for everyone in the organization, particularly for leaders.

As an executive director, you will be a fundamental part of the campaign, meeting with donors and overseeing the day-to-day processes. You and your team will need to work together to make sure that you have the time to carry out the campaign.

Who will serve as the capital campaign task force?

A capital campaign task force, also known as a planning committee, oversees a campaign plan.

According to Capital Campaign Toolkit, this is usually a group of 4-6 people that includes:

• Executive director

• Development director (if applicable)

• Board chair

• Campaign chair

• One or two other current and former board members

This group will often work hand-in-hand with a campaign consultant(s).

When the right people are involved in this task force, they will ensure that everything stays on track to accomplish the campaign’s goals.

Will you hire a campaign consultant? If so, who?

Many nonprofits combat their lack of experience or staff availability by hiring a campaign consultant or firm. These specialists offer critical guidance and accountability to ensure success in your campaign.

Picking the right consultant will come down to a variety of factors.

• Resume: According to Capital Campaign Toolkit, “there’s a large spectrum of experience, services, and capabilities available in the consulting marketplace.” If your organization is going to invest, you want to make sure you find the right people who have a proven track record of capital campaign success. .

• Access: Consultants offer different kinds of access. Some meet in person a few days a month; others utilize remote tools. Determining the kind of help you expect will help you find the right consultant.

• Cost: Campaign Counsel says that consultants can range from a few hundred dollars to $30,000, depending on the needs. Figuring out how much you need will help you build a budget for your consultant.

Questions for Operational Concerns

Is there a well-developed budget for a campaign?

Fundraising isn’t free, and budgeting for those costs on the scale of a capital campaign is important. To help you develop your budget, Campaign Counsel has outlined various cost considerations including:

• Acquisition or construction costs for infrastructure

• Testing, zoning, and permitting fees

• Design fees

• Furnishings, fixtures, and equipment

• Consulting fees

• Campaign management

• Indirect costs like promotional material, mailers, and other expenses

Is there high-functioning donor software in place?

Donor database software can help you track and manage your donor relationships. The best ones allow you to:

• Segment prospects into different categories

• Personalize messages and acknowledgment letters

• Track campaign results

• Generate reports

According to Lysakowski, such a tool “is a veritable gold mine” because it allows “the organization to monitor its donor pipeline and take the right steps to keep it on track.”

Can you easily track progress on the campaign?

Having the donor database software in place may help you generate reports, but it’s also important to know the best metrics to measure. Once you’ve got the right numbers in place, you can better monitor your progress and make informed decisions about what needs to change or what practices should be optimized.

Do you have policies and guidelines to help your team accept, record, and acknowledge gifts?

You will likely get various kinds of gift offers from your donors. It’s also expected that you’ll have various people participating in the fundraising efforts. It’s best to set those people up for success by giving them policies and guidelines that address:

• How to accept different gifts

• What kinds of gifts are acceptable

• Where to record the gift, so everyone stays aligned

The board should ensure that these policies are in place, not just for the campaign, but for fundraising in general.

Here is a primer on gift acceptance policies from the National Council of Nonprofits.

Closing Thoughts

Capital campaigns can be one of the most exciting initiatives for any nonprofit. They allow you to dream big and aim high. But for them to succeed, you need to plan well from the very beginning.

Asking and answering the right questions will help you plan your capital campaign so that you can reach those goals that you and your team are so excited to accomplish.

The Building Blocks of Your Nonprofit’s Communication Strategy

Awkward communication encounters are the worst.

You’ve probably had one happen at a restaurant at some point. The waiter told you to enjoy your meal, and you replied with an emphatic, “You, too!” before hiding your face with your hands and hope the server didn’t hear you.

There are quite a few opportunities in nonprofit communication to make mistakes like that but with higher stakes involved. Challenges naturally arise when you try to reach the masses, and overcoming those challenges requires a thorough communication strategy.

We want to help you discover the best ways to communicate your message to the masses. That’s why we’ve put together this guide to designing your nonprofit communication strategy.

4 Basic Elements of a Nonprofit Communication Strategy

Nonprofit communication rarely works without a clear plan and strategy, and the best communication strategies share the same four elements.

Communication Priorities that Align With Your Organization

Setting communication priorities helps you measure your success and drive decision-making. Some common priorities for your nonprofit may include things like:

• Establishing a brand and messaging that stays consistent with everything you share

• Coming up with ways to reach a larger audience and increase brand engagement

• Raising awareness through creative content distribution

• Gaining or sustaining support from donors

• Casting a vision to recruit volunteers

Your communication priorities should always help your organization accomplish its mission. The more specific and targeted you can make these, the better. Goals can help with this, too. They offer more particular metrics that fall underneath the larger priorities to better measure the success of your efforts. You can review our recent blog post about how to set and measure goals.

Think about how hard it is to determine whether or not you “raised awareness” if you don’t have something measurable behind it. Instead, you might think of a goal like “increase social post impressions by 5%” because it gives you specific numbers getting closer to your overall priority.

A Known Target Audience

One of the most critical rules of communication is knowing to whom you’re talking. The broader you make your audience, the less effective you can be in your messaging.

Establishing a target audience allows you to reach the people who will support your organization. But first, you have to know who these people are.

Find out what they read, what they like, and what they engage with online. Send out surveys or do polls on social media. Research similar organizations to see how they’ve attracted followers or what content has had the most significant impact.

The more you know about the people you communicate to, the better chance you’ll have at reaching them with material that excites, educates, and inspires them to support your nonprofit.

Good Stories and Storytelling

People have been telling stories for as long as we’ve been around. Stories pull on audiences’ heartstrings in a way raw data can’t, and storytelling should play an important role in your nonprofit communication strategy.

Stories help your organization:

• Communicate your mission and vision

• Share important data

• Raise support

• Engage audiences through various media

If you want to see some more specific ideas and examples, review our recent blog post about nonprofit storytelling.

Multiple Communication Channels

More than ever, people get their information from a variety of sources. Nonprofits can cast their best “communication net” for their audience by utilizing the most appropriate communication channels.

With so many social media networks, print outlets, and other ways to reach people, though, how are you supposed to know which is best?

5 Best Communication Channels for Nonprofits

Here’s the good news: you don’t have to use every communication channel out there. You just have to pick the one or two that will best reach your target audience.

Below are five of the simplest and most effective channels we see nonprofits use successfully.

1. Email Newsletters

Email newsletters are a stable, long-time pro on the internet’s ever-changing roster.

Despite all the trends and changes that come and go in the digital age, email newsletters have been quietly helping organizations easily reach mass amounts of people. It’s a simple, inexpensive, and effective way to communicate.

Donor Box has compiled seven basic tips for creating your newsletter.

1. Have a clean email list of engaged subscribers

2. Create a schedule for consistency

3. Don’t neglect your design

4. Write a captivating subject line

5. Make your content meaningful and useful to your audience

6. Be concise

7. Repurpose content from other channels into your newsletter and vice versa

Consistently providing your audience with quick, meaningful content will drive up your engagement and keep your audience involved with your organization.

Here are some great examples of nonprofit newsletters that share different kinds of content:

• Show readers how to get involved

• Give updates, celebrate accomplishments, and share news

• Invite readers to upcoming events

• Share impact stories

• Spotlight staff or supporter/volunteer

• Provide fundraising information

• Link out to other resources like podcasts

2. Social Media

If email newsletters are the old veteran, social media is the fiery rookie. It hasn’t been around for as long, but, as you know, has made an incredible splash.

There are nearly 5 billion social media users across the world, each one engaging with an average of 6.6 different platforms. The growth rate is incredible, with no indication of decreasing.

Leo Pedraza – Marketing, Communication, and Brand Manager of LinkedIn for Nonprofits – explains that “with the right social media strategy, your nonprofit can create an engaged, active, and loyal online community that cares about your mission and is ready to help.” Pedraza also shows how social media can bring fundraising benefits, citing a study where 29% of donors online said the channel inspires their giving.

Other key benefits include:

• Promoting awareness

• Inspiring action

• Garnering the attention of more media outlets for features

• Attracting more volunteers

• Sharing your impact

• Creating and distributing educational resources

Build community. Educate the public. Raise funds. Inspire volunteers. Doesn’t sound too bad, does it?

3. Printed Media

People have been mistakenly declaring print media dead for years, ignoring the fact that it’s still out there and is still a valid option for reaching your audience.

In an article for Donor Box, the author explains how print media can be a great way to thank, update, and help your supporters. They mention items like

• Postcards

• Calendars

• Catalogs

• Brochures

We at Mission Met have seen the impact that a well-designed, informative booklet can have on a nonprofit’s communication strategy.. That’s why we offer our INSPIRE service where we create a beautiful booklet of your nonprofit's strategic plan that you can confidently share with your stakeholders and donors.

Executive directors often report the following benefits of this type of brochure:

• Increased fundraising success with both individual donors and foundations

• Greater organizational pride for the staff and board

• Deeper marketing presence

4. Video Messages

Video is a powerful medium that engages audiences through multiple senses in our visual society.

Greater Giving outlines 6 common types of video messages used by nonprofits:

1. Brand stories, like the one that First Descents created to explain their organization

2. Awareness videos, like this one from Girl Effect

3. Impact videos, such as this one from Vida Verde Nature Education

4. Event promos

5. Community updates

6. Thank you messages

Some videos will combine aspects of different types. Third Way Center has a video that tells a little about their brand, shares their impact, and gives thanks to their supporters.

You don’t need to draw a hard line that separates the categories. You just need to know the purpose behind your video and align it to your overall strategy.

5. Text Messages

Text message communication has become more commonplace for nonprofits in recent years. It’s a great way to get short, succinct messages out to your audience.

TechSoup offers a thorough guide for nonprofits looking to utilize this medium. It covers the importance of:

• Defining your audience

• Knowing what gets them to take action

• Identifying your value proposition

• Getting permission from users

• Preparing to scale

• Testing and measuring outcomes

Closing Thoughts

Your organization needs to communicate with your audience, but you won’t do it successfully unless you have a plan in place.

Following these simple steps will help you design a nonprofit communication strategy that pleases your audience and keeps them engaged.

A Brief Primer on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Nonprofits

In our strategic planning work at Mission Met, one of the common themes that our customers address is diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

As a complex and highly-nuanced topic, it can be difficult for nonprofit staff and board members to create a common understanding of the issue. With that in mind we’ve created this brief overview that we hope you and your team can use to inform your discussion.

Note that we at Mission Met are not DEI experts. Within this article we have referenced others that are much more knowledgeable about this than us. Please provide a comment to our article if you have any feedback or ideas that could help the article’s readers get an even richer understanding of this topic. Thank you.

What is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion?

Diversity, equity, and inclusion–typically referred to as DEI–is a catch-all phrase for three distinct but related ideas: Diversity is about the presence of difference. Equity is about the process of fairness. Inclusion is about ensuring people with diverse backgrounds feel and are welcome in the organization.

While the term has become more prevalent in recent years, it is important to approach this not as a trend to be applied to certain sections of your organization but as a new way of thinking about your entire operational framework.

As such, it will be valuable to break down each of the three ideas individually to see how they fit together.

Diversity

A diverse staff and board brings together people with different identities and qualities like:

• Race

• Gender

• Sexual orientation

• Religion

• Ethnic background

• Ability/disability

• Language

• Class

Diversity initiatives also look for people who have been (and currently are) underrepresented or marginalized in the field and in the community as a whole.

However, having a diverse staff or board does not quite mean that your organization has accomplished diversity. There’s much more to it than that.

In a blog for the DEI training and consulting group She+ Geeks Out, Fatima Dainkeh, reminds leaders that “Representation isn’t just about having ‘different’ people present. It comes down to making sure that different voices are heard, valued, and represented in decision-making processes.”

Equity

Equity helps tear down roadblocks. This requires more than simple changes and gets at the very policies, procedures, and processes of an organization.

Equity differs from equality in a few important ways. Equality focuses on the same treatment of every individual. In a perfect world, that’d be fine, but people operate within broken and unfair systems, especially those who have any sort of minority status.

Equity is more about helping all people reach the same level of success, even if that means disenfranchised people are given opportunities that help get them to the same places that majority groups have historically operated within.

Inclusion

While diversity and equity are proactive steps, inclusion is an outcome of those efforts. Inclusion gets accomplished when diverse people actually feel welcomed and experience a sense of belonging.

This includes not just the presence of diverse individuals, but their voices being heard in important aspects of the nonprofit. Diverse groups of people should participate in decision-making conversations and have professional development opportunities or ongoing training available to them.

Inclusion only works when the people of the organization get behind it. Policies and procedure changes, while good first steps, will not change the hearts of staff and leaders. To help with this, Dainkeh offers a list of questions to evaluate oneself and staff when it comes to inclusion:

• How do we act or feel when our teams expand to include individuals from a variety of educational backgrounds?

• Who do we say good morning to when we enter the office?

• Do we make assumptions about certain groups of people but not others?

• Does everyone feel like their contribution matters?

• Does change happen when adequate feedback is given?

• Who is involved in decision-making?

Having answers to these questions, she says, will “help us to think about whether or not we’re practicing inclusion in the workplace and beyond.”

Different Approaches

Besides DEI, there are a variety of other approaches to this general topic. We’ll highlight some of these below and provide links to follow for more information.

Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion

DEAI shares much of the same elements of DEI but adds accessibility. The American Alliance of Museums has a great breakdown of their definitions for each category. They explain that accessibility “is giving equitable access to everyone along the continuum of human ability and experience” and that it is particularly concerned with thinking “beyond compliance” and the physical environment to promote “access to and representation in content for all.”

Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

JEDI includes elements of DEI, but highlights the importance of justice. Here’s one article that explains some of the DEI and JEDI distinctions. From the article:

“Diversity and inclusion rhetoric asks fundamentally different questions and is concerned with fundamentally different issues than efforts seeking equity and justice. Leading with Justice and Equity is a significantly different framework because it prompts us to think about the systemic barriers to access, engagement, and success at the forefront of our work and how we can transform an organization to try to eliminate these barriers.”

Equity, Diversity, and Belonging

EDB specifically highlights the importance of belonging as a part of the framework. Pathink Pathak explains that “some people need different or greater resources – and treatment more broadly – than others. That can only lead to the conclusion that we need equity or fairness, not equality.”

Additionally, he adds that “inclusion is a technocratic process” while “belonging is an emotion and an outcome.” The difference is key for him and other proponents of EDB because “you can be formally included… without feeling that you belong.” EDB attempts to change that and focus more on fostering that sense of belonging.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

The definitions for this approach are the same as DEI but puts equity at the beginning, seeing it as the most essential starting point for a better workspace and society.

The Importance of Prioritizing DEI

Whichever approach you choose, prioritizing DEI will bring valuable benefits to any nonprofit.

Research shows that diversity leads to better, more creative decision-making as leaders pull from a larger pool of perspectives and experiences. It also is tied to greater creativity, diligence, and hard-work among staff members.

Multiple voices will also foster a greater sense of innovation as individuals bring fresh ideas. An article from The Council of Nonprofits states that “When board members, employees, donors, and others who shape the values and activities of a nonprofit come from a wide array of backgrounds, they bring unique perspectives that influence how the nonprofit approaches its mission in more inclusive and innovative ways.” Making DEI a central priority for your nonprofit will help you better meet your mission and vision.

Finally, the most important reason to prioritize DEI goes beyond the success of any organization. People of all backgrounds and walks of life have the right to the same opportunities as everyone else, and nonprofits are uniquely positioned to help make that a standard operation.

Additional Resources and Closing Thoughts

Effectively preparing for and implementing DEI practices takes significant time and thorough planning. This blog was meant to just serve as a very basic primer. To learn more, here is a list of resources that can help in your efforts.

1. Information about including DEI in bylaws and other institutional structures

2. National Council of Nonprofits

3. Terms and definitions

4. Understanding implicit/unconscious biases

5. Project Implicit Tool

6. Statement on Cultural Equity from American for the Arts

7. Diversity Toolkit

Nonprofits exist to make a difference, and DEI represents a powerful change every organization can make together.

4 Tips for More Successful Virtual Board Meetings

As you know, the COVID-19 pandemic forced boards of directors and their committees to move from in-person meetings to an online setting.

In some ways, that change has been great. Meeting online can save board members’ valuable time and make meetings more convenient. However, we’ve seen that meeting exclusively online has also hurt many boards’ cultures and it's been harder for board members to make human connections with each other.

With that in mind, we’ve put together a few key tips to help your board strengthen the effectiveness of its virtual meetings. While many of the sources we reference deal specifically with board meetings, the tips described can apply to most virtual meetings.

1. Establish Your Board’s Virtual Meeting Etiquette

We all know some of the common rules of etiquette for in-person meetings. Show up on time. Raise your hand to speak. Stay present and refrain from getting distracted by your cell phone.

Virtual meetings, however, are somewhat new and we’re all figuring out the best rules for these meetings. Some common pieces of virtual meeting etiquette include:

• Having your camera on.

• Keeping yourself muted unless it’s time to speak.

• Dress appropriately.

• Stay aware of your background (a wall is the best bet).

• No meals during meetings.

• Use verbal cues in lieu of body language.

Other important etiquette factors could include engagement with one another. How will participants ask questions? Should they use the chat or raise their hands? Do they wait until the end or can they interrupt? Having these expectations set at the beginning will help the virtual meeting flow more smoothly and reduce wasted time.

Whatever etiquette guidelines you choose to adopt, clearly communicate them and make sure you keep people accountable to the standards. Otherwise they might start to slip through the cracks, leaving a potential for distractions and less effective dialogue.

2. Create the Space for Connections

In-person board meetings offer a chance for board members to come together and develop their relationships with each other. Before and after the meeting, board members might strike up conversations, but in virtual meetings, that can be harder to replicate

A couple of simple things you can do to promote the connections among your board in these meetings are to:

• Conduct a meeting ice-breaker so that board members can get to know one another better. If you Google “virtual meeting ice breakers” you’ll find a number of great resources. Here’s one that we like.

• Provide board members with an option to join the meeting for up to a half-hour ahead of time just to connect and talk amongst themselves. We’ve seen this approach work great in advance of strategic planning meetings. Some of our customers use this time to share a virtual cocktail or break bread with each other, making the meeting time much more enjoyable.

3. Invest in the Right Technology

At this point, you’re probably aware of some of the most popular technology for virtual meetings. Most board members have become comfortable using Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or other remote conferencing platforms.

There are other resources that integrate with these platforms to enhance the meeting experience. Collaboration tools like LucidChart, Jamboard, or Miro are all great for nonprofit work because they allow the team to work together on visually represented concepts or ideas. Team members can share charts or diagrams to show data, and others can make changes or suggestions in real time.

There are other tools out there, like Otter, that will record and take meeting notes. And other applications, like Krisp, that will enhance the sound quality of your meeting.

As remote meetings continue to rise, the technology will likely become more sophisticated, but whatever tools you use, make sure the whole board knows how to use them to get the most out of the experience.

4. Remember Regular Board Meeting Best Practices

Bad meetings are notorious time wasters, and board members don’t have much time to waste. With that in mind, be sure to implement common meeting best practices so that they are most effective. Here are some resources to help you with those practices.

• We wrote an article about the power of setting outcomes-based meeting agendas. Here is a sample meeting agenda that we reference in that article.

• The Council of Nonprofits has a great list of ten best practices for in-person board meetings that can also be applied to virtual ones.

• Here is a list of the top 10 nonprofit board meeting mistakes to avoid.

Closing Thoughts

At the end of the day, virtual board meetings shouldn’t be less effective than your in-person ones. They’re just happening over the phone or video conferencing software. We hope that the tips we’ve provided here will help you in your efforts to create more productive and engaging virtual board meetings.

Guide for Running a Nonprofit Capital Campaign

Over the years we've observed that one of the most common priorities that our customers often integrate into their strategic plan is the development of a capital campaign.

A capital campaign is one of the most exciting and transformative activities that you and your nonprofit can implement. According to Donor Search’s Capital Campaigns Guide, a capital campaign is “a targeted fundraising effort that takes place over a defined period of time.” These are separate from other kinds of fundraising activities because “they are massive projects that can span multiple years and cost thousands of dollars.” They often require extensive planning and strategic execution over various phases.

With such a time-intensive project, organizations need to take a deep dive early in the planning stage if they want the campaign to have success. A half-hearted effort won't work. You need excellent guidance, a thoughtful strategy, clear goals, and actionable steps. When these are in place, capital campaigns have the potential to produce wonderful results.

In this capital campaign primer, we’ll provide you with some ideas and links that will help you make your campaign a success.

What is a Capital Campaign?

Organizations use capital campaigns to raise a large amount of money for a specific purpose over a dedicated timeline. Campaigns are typically used for things like:

• Constructing or expanding a facility

• Purchasing land

• A substantial acquisition of equipment or supplies

• Funds to start new programs

• Endowments

In general, capital campaigns should be used to raise money for unique projects, not long-term operations. The latter is best done through regular fundraising efforts.

What are the stages of a capital campaign?

Since capital campaigns involve a large, long-term goal, they occur in stages. The Capital Campaign Toolkit says that “capital campaigns generally take between two and three years,” and in that time are various phases.

A typical five-phase timeline includes:

1. Planning

2. Quiet phase

3. Kick-off

4. Public phase

5. Wrap-up

The planning phase should be thorough and include items like:

• Completing a feasibility study that includes determining organizational readiness

• Assembling the campaign committee, which may include a campaign consultant(s)

• Establishing goals and the critical case for support

• Setting deadlines

• Coming up with a budget

• Conducting comprehensive prospect research and screening

• Identifying the best capital campaign donor prospecting and management tool

• Building your prospect list

• Building your campaign’s branding and marketing material

Our colleagues at Partnership Resources Group have some excellent blog articles that will give you great insights into your planning process.

Comprehensive planning is where your campaign will live or die. This needs to be done before launching into the next phases.

Quiet Phase vs. Public Phase

The two key fundraising phases of a capital campaign are the quiet and public phase.

The quiet phase happens first, shortly after establishing you’ve completed your planning. The primary goal of this phase is to raise about 50%-70% of your funds through major gifts before taking the campaign public. This phase typically takes up to a year.

The remaining funds are raised through a larger population of donors after the official launch of the campaign. This public phase is usually initiated by a kickoff event and/or a public announcement. Then, you begin fundraising efforts in the community and through smaller donations.

Throughout the entire campaign it is important to keep your donors aware of progress since they have an investment in its success.

What will it cost?

The old adage that you have to spend money to make money is just as true for nonprofits as it is in the private sector. Fundraising costs money, and capital campaigns are no different.

According to Campaign Counsel, capital campaigns can be considered acceptable if they cost less than 15% of the campaign goals. Anything under 10% is considered “very efficient,” though larger campaigns may have a smaller percentage. For example, “if your goal is $10,000,000 the cost of your campaign will likely be in the 6-8% range.”

As you are planning your campaign, be sure to include these campaign costs in your overall fundraising goal. This way your organization makes back what it spent to raise the money.

Hiring a Campaign Consultant

One of the best investments you can make in your campaign is hiring a campaign consultant or firm. This person(s) can provide critical guidance and accountability that will ensure your campaign’s success.

Campaign Counsel offers a wide range of potential consultant costs, from “a few hundred or thousand dollars a month up to $30,000 or more per month for full-service, on-site campaign management.” If you’re considering hiring a campaign consultant or firm then this article from the Capital Campaign Toolkit provides good guidance.

Do you know how to appeal to your donors?

Abby Jarvis of the fundraising technology platform Qgiv, says that each donor goes on a journey with your organization before deciding to give funds. She explains: “though, each of your donors and supporters is unique and different, they all follow a similar journey as they get to know your nonprofit’s mission and make each gift.”

In the case of a capital campaign, you need to create a specific and compelling case for support that will lead your donors through the journey. This is critical.

One thing that you can integrate into your case for support is effective stories. To do this is by telling stories. We’ve written elsewhere about how effective storytelling can be for fundraising, especially when you consider Steven Screen’s idea of the “donor story.” While those tips apply to fundraising more broadly, you can reposition your stories to raise funds for capital campaigns as well.

Who should be involved in what capacity?

Capital campaigns involve the whole organization in some capacity, but different people will play different roles. Donor Search’s guide breaks down the people involved in two major categories: in-house team members and committee-related team members.

The in-house team consists of board members, staff, and volunteers. The board typically oversees the big picture decisions while staff members execute the plan. The executive director often plays a critical role in meeting with potential funders and overseeing the process. Volunteers fill in whatever gaps are left.

Most organizations also use a campaign committee to plan the campaign and handle any ongoing maintenance necessary. Donor Search says that the campaign chair “is going to be one of the most crucial team members” because they “will be in charge of overseeing your committee(s) and act as an ambassador for your capital campaign within the community.” As you begin planning your campaign, make sure you can identify a strong campaign chair who will handle all the necessary oversight throughout.

How do you get started?

Getting a capital campaign off the ground can take a lot of work, but Donor Search has compiled a list of 14 key starting points to help you in the early stages of your plan. Some of the outstanding pieces we will mention here include:

• Getting a campaign committee together

• Performing a feasibility study

• Setting a deadline for your capital campaign

• Finalizing a fundraising goal

• Reviewing past successes and failures by analyzing fundraising metrics

• Set a budget

• Create a plan, including a contingency plan

• Align expectations for your campaign

The list from Donor Search goes into greater detail for each step, which can help you develop your plan as you get started.

Closing Thoughts

Capital campaigns are great opportunities to raise substantial funds for specific projects in a determined amount of time. In order to succeed, they need to be carefully planned and executed. Before you kick off your capital campaign, think through the elements we highlighted here to make sure it’s right for your organization.