A Quick Mini-Survey

Question for all you readers of The Coach’s blog that are involved in a nonprofit: What percentage of your annual revenue comes from grants? You can respond via the “comments” below.

Several people have asked recently what The Coach offers in a Coaching Retainer. When many people ask the same question in a short period of time it’s usually a tip-off that others are needing the same information. So… here’s what you get with a Coaching Retainer:

Annual Coaching Retainer
• Two days onsite, monthly teleconference coaching sessions, weekly check-ins, and unlimited access to The Coach for one year
• Training for your staff and volunteers in grant writing at every level of the discipline, including comprehensive research
• Complete prototype grant proposal
• Proposal review and editing
• Complete strategic funding plan, including grant funding, endowments, planned giving, and donor development
• Board development to move to the next level of leadership
• Capacity building strategies that work
• Assistance in establishing an endowment
• Help in identifying and overcoming plateau factors

I’ve been in Chicagoland for the past five days. I had the privilege of meeting and consulting with wonderful organizations such as the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago, Pfeiffer Treatment Center in Warrenville, Young Life of DuPage County, Quentin Road Church in Lake Zurich, and Milano Hardin of Atlanta. These organizations are societal change agents in endeavors ranging from feeding and housing the homeless to successful treatment of Autism, from teaching children with Dyslexia to rescuing at-risk adolescents. I consider it an honor to partner with them.

Partnering is an important concept in the nonprofit sector. As a nonprofit executive you need to think in terms of partnering. Partners can help you strengthen your areas of weakness, grow where you’re stagnant, think creatively when you’re in a rut, and expand your network. Partners hold you up when you are falling and move you forward when you feel like you just can’t carry on.

Where can you find good partners? Well, I would be remiss if I didn’t say The Grant Writing Coach for starters. But you can find partners in many places. Professional consultants can be great partners and often cost effective in the short term. You may want to consider partnering with others in your industry/field of endeavor. In a strange sort of way MacDonald’s and Burger King are partnering with each other when they locate on the same intersection – they generate more business than if they were alone. Or maybe you can find an ally in a totally unrelated endeavor that appreciates what you are doing and would “invest” in you. An example would be Muscle Shoals Chamber of Commerce considering a partnership with a local junior college to hire The Grant Writing Coach to coach a rookie grant writer shared between the two – a GOOD idea.

We all need partners – no man is an island – two are better than one - Ecclesiastes 4:9-12.

Lucie and I spent yesterday evening at Randy and Chris Elrod’s new property in Middle Tennessee dedicated to creative retreat for artists of every kind. The property is BEAUTIFUL and one day it will have a lodge and fifteen individual retreat cabins for artists to escape and create. Hats off to Randy and Chris for a dream that one day will be a reality. It all begins with a dream.

And thank you for seeking the help of The Coach! We’re going to see great things happen together.

I went to a fundraising/community awareness luncheon yesterday to benefit Mercy Ministries (a ministry to troubled young women). It was positively outstanding and an example for all nonprofits.

Three things stood out as exemplary:
1) The event was well planned, organized and executed. I arrived a bit early but was greeted warmly by the director of community relations and immediately introduced to a young woman named Sarah, who served as my tour hostess. Sarah, a resident in the program, was clearly proud of Mercy Ministries as she showed me around the residence. However, what was most impressive was the obvious internal health of my hostess. The luncheon started on time, was prepared and served by the residents, and the program was also timely and informative. As the guests left (again, on time) there were residents and staff to hand out gift sacks and thank us for joining them for the luncheon. The atmosphere was very positive and upbeat.

2) Mercy understands their program’s product and biggest asset is their residents. The young women that are currently in the program were everywhere, ready to share their stories and living examples of what Mercy Ministries is all about.

3) The emphasis of the event was clearly relationships, not simply fundraising. Positive community relationships always lead to more revenue in the end, and Mercy understands this too.

My hat’s off to Mercy Ministries, not only for a well run luncheon, but most of all for the miracles they are working in the lives of young women.

I bumped into Brandt Busquet (Mercy Children’s Clinic, Development Director) at the Nashville chapter meeting of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Brandt is on the local board of AFP and also holds the CFRE credential (Certified Frund Raising Professional). The CFRE is THE credential for all those who are professional fundraisers. It is experienced-based rather than academic, but it does require an extensive application and a lengthy standardized, computer-based exam.

When Brandt found out I had not sat for the exam he proceeded to strongly encourage me to take it. I checked out www.cfre.org and decided I will sit for the exam. I think I’ll take some time to prep for it and take it in the Spring or Fall of ‘07. If any of you out there would like to take it at the same time (in your own location), I would love to form a “study/accountability group” and work together toward the exam. Just let me know in the comment section below, or email me.

If you’re a runner (and even if you’re not), here are a couple wonderful organizations that are holding fundraising runs in the Middle Tennessee area, be sure to check them out…

Hope Clinic for Women

Habitat for Humanity Williamson County

For years I have been encouraging nonprofits to collaborate with other nonprofits in order to maximize their community ROI. Nonprofits that cooperate with others are often able to lower their operating costs, raise their community profile, and increase revenue at the same time. It is true, fundraising is a competitive endeavor, but that competition doesn’t have to mean isolation. Collaborative effort can lead to complimentary benefits greater than those possible when operating alone.

Peter Panepento has written an excellent article on the benefits of collaborative effort in the Chronicle of Philanthropy (April 6, 2006 issue). To read his article simply Click Here.

As many of you know one of my guiding principles is drawn from the prophet Isaiah’s ancient wisdom. The prophet writes for God saying, “I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.” Those treasures and riches are not always in the form of money. This morning I had breakfast with my dentist, Lyle Monger, at the wonderful country cafe in Franklin called Pucket’s. That’s right, breakfast with my denist. He’s a good man and at my last appointment in his office he discerned I was burdened. On my way home I got a text message from him asking if we could meet today for breakfast. We sat together and talked over eggs, country ham and lots of coffee. It was, if you’ll pardon the pun, just what the doctor ordered. Sometimes the “riches stored in secret places” are the unsolicited love and compassion of a friend.

May you find those riches as well, according to the grace of God.

Ok, here’s the scoop: We need to bump The Coach’s blog up in the blogosphere. Would you do us a favor or two?

1) If you are a daily or even periodic reader of this blog, send us a comment saying so.
2) If you have a blog of your own, or a website, send us your your link and link us to yours.

It’s a win-win for all of us, and in the end worthy nonprofits will benefit the most.

Thanks for the leg up!