Five Good Ideas
is a series of conversations focusing on essential management
skills that successful agency leadership must consider and
master. The series is hosted by Maytree. On
Wednesday, February 16, 2005, Paul Born was the featured speaker
for the session: Five Good Ideas about...Vision, Ideas
and Money.
Find out more about the session below.
Find out more about Five Good Ideas
by visiting the Maytree
Foundation's website.
(Our thanks to Maytree for
allowing us to use this material.)
 People
invest in the passion of your organization. The correlation
between vision, ideas and money starts with passion. If you
don’t believe in what you are doing, you aren’t
doing your organization any favours. A two-point test might
be:
- Do you give time to your organization over and above
what you are paid for?
- Are you reading and actively learning about what you
are doing?
Before you approach a potential investor,
be able to answer three basic questions about your organization:
- What are you doing and why is the world a better place
because of what you are doing?
- What do you want to do and how will the world be a
better place because of this?
- How are you going to involve the donor in your organization?
 People
do not invest in confusion or incompetence. Make sure you
have the correct systems in place so that when you receive
an investment you can process it in a professional manner.
Build an organization that is able to receive
money with a well-developed mission, an identifiable strategic
plan and good financial and evaluation systems. Ensure that
your organization has the right leaders to implement the organization’s
strategies. For new and emerging organizations, good financial
systems (and a bookkeeper) is the best single investment.
Understand the funding cycles of donor organizations
to be in the right place at the right time. You are then able
to use money that you receive wisely and competently.
 When
you are talking to someone who is willing to give or has given
to your organization, use the ‘80-20’ rule: Never
talk more than 20% of the time about your organization, spend
at least 80% of the conversation trying to understand what
a funder wants and needs, both on a personal and corporate
level. Keep detailed notes of these conversations to use at
subsequent occasions.
Build relationships from within your organization
– start by asking your board members about their own
relationships with key community members. Fundraising by large
donor gifts requires a minimum lead time of several years.
There are two considerations in a donor’s receptiveness
to fundraising: will and ability. Ability refers to how much
the donor knows about your organization and the depth of trust
that has been developed; ability is the current liquidity
of the donor- how much cash he/she has available. A maxim
in fundraising is: do you want a quick ‘no’ or
a slow ‘yes’? Be patient and take the time to
cultivate relationships.
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Paul Born provides an example of
building relationships and then build the relationship
(2.9 Mb) |
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*Click to download free player from
the Windows
Media website |
 Projects
seldom go as planned. Engage your funder in the work as it
unfolds, so they will be better able to recognize your successes
while understanding the challenges you face.
Recognize that the outcomes of a project
inevitably change. Engage your funder in finding solutions
to difficulties as they occur. Ask their opinions and engage
their interest in your project. If the donor has a particular
idea which is not exactly what you had planned, don’t
reject the idea automatically; again engage the donor in a
conversation with research and alternative approaches.
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Paul Born provides an example of
working together with your funder (4.9 Mb) |
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*Click to download free player from
the Windows
Media website |
When you build relationships, recognize that it takes time.
The cycle starts very slowly and begins to grow. Keep your
eye on the credibility of your organization.
Involve funders as spokespeople for the
organization, work hard at telling your story. Keep your eye
on your organization’s capacity to support the work
in a credible manner and create a culture of gratitude within
your organization - thank funders, volunteers and staff on
a regular basis.
Finally, vision, ideas and money come down
to a way of being; an authentic desire to have the kind of
organization with which people can engage.
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