Recently, a colleague in the nonprofit sector asked me "In these tough financial times, what should be the major criteria in selecting an individual to head up our agency's fund raising efforts: a record of successful selling; or strong personal ethics?"
I told him, "Ethics, of course." He asked, "Why?
The difference, as I see it, is that when soliciting funding for a non-profit, it is the mission of the organization that is the product. If the mission and message are in conflict then forget any expectation of ethical performance on the part of the fundraiser or the organization.
I said, "Non-profits have a mission, a purpose which is something other than to make a profit for the investors. The mission is an intangible product. And the donors are the investors in that product. The organization, as perceived by the donor or potential donor who is being asked to support it, will be judge by how committed the fundraiser is to the mission."
"But does it hurt to be a good sales person?" he asked.
"Of course not. In fact a good sales person is one who real believes in the product and who can transfer that passion for the product to the potential customer."
"What does it mean then to be ethical?" he asked.
"That is very simple," I said. "When soliciting support for a cause, be honest. Make no promises that you personally can't keep. And 'Say what you mean and mean what you say'."
In my opinion, there are three main reasons for placing ethics over salesmanship in a nonprofit organization first.
1. Personal ethics are critically important for establishing and maintaining trust between the non-profit organization and its donors.
2. Selling an intangible is really selling trust. Trust is the most valuable and powerful product in the world and, yet it is also the most fragile product. Once broken, it may never be recovered. If the fundraiser does not care about the mission they represent, how can the organization expect that the fundraiser will care about the impression they leave with donors?
3. The fundraiser is often the only organizational face the public and donors sees. She will be the one they hold immediately accountable for how the organization uses the funds solicited.
So long story short, the idal ethical fundraiser can be summed up as someone who is:
1. Personally commitment to the message and honestly presented to donors
2. Insists on organizational transparency about the purpose and use of the funds.
3. Holds herself personally accountable to the donor for reporting on Mission integrity and reporting honestly what the organization has done and achieved with the funds.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Exit Planning: Planning for failure can never come too soon
I work, and have worked, a lot with entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial "want-a-bes" in the earliest stages of their enterprise formation. After listening to the things which fire their passion -- the germ of their idea, their pride of inventiveness, and their dream of wealth - they will ask for my help to find money for the project. Before I even consider the project, I ask them one key question, "And what is your plan B?" This determines whether this is a real prospect or a Dreamer. My exist plan for Dreamers is -- "Conclude the interview", "Move on" "But do it politely."
Dreamers use up your time and they don't pay for any advise you give them.
The recent catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico with British Petroleum (BP)'s Deep Water Horizon explosion and the oil well rupture has capture the national and international news. The crisis is now two months old with no immediate end in sight. This disaster brings home the cost of not having a Plan B.
Now you might ask, "What does BP, a multi-billion dollar international corporation, have to do with me and my small business? The answer is Everything.
Every oil well drilled is an entrepreneurial venture risking $100s of million dollars. BP has the experience and resources for opening new wells. One would think that they would have a plan B in case of failure or accident. But in their narrow, "get it done quickly and cheaply" mind set they have put not only the project at risk, but the company,and all the contingent stakeholders as well. These include those who depend upon the company for their livelihood, the investors, especially pension programs, their neighbors including the fishing and tourism businesses and the tax payers of the states and the nation whose oil they had been given a lease to exploit.
My clients, and prospective clients, don't have the resources of a BP. They don't necessarily have the experience or access to the expertise in their business that BP has. But going into a new business venture carriers the same risks of failure. And while the size their potential losses may be no where as large in absolute terms, they are proportionately infinitely larger for these entrepreneurs than they are to BP.
The lesson here is that BP did not have a Plan B for the Deep Water Horizon well venture. This is proving to be very costly for the company and all its stakeholders. Because there is no Plan B, it could even mean the end of the company as we know it today.
As sole proprietor of your business, you have placed everything you have at risk of success and at risk for failure. If you opt for some protection you might wrap yourself in a corporate form such as a LLC, Limited Liability Corporation, but even that will not totally protect you from the risks of failure.
So how do you protect yourself or at least minimize the risk of failure?
You do so by planning FOR FAILURE. I strongly recommend that you consult the following book if you doubt me - The Ten Commandments for Business Failure by Donald R. Keough.
Oh, I know, this is not the "positive thinking" that new age career/business coaches and gurus preach in their books and seminars. They teach you to think positively, develop a positive attitude, and practice "the Secret". They preach and practice the "build it and they will come" philosophy. But just as a candy bar in the late afternoon can give you a temporary sugar high, these doses of magical thinking don't stay with you very long, become habit forming and lead to a fat, obese ego at the risk of "personality diabetes".
Planning to fail is not negative thinking. Planning to fail is rational, realistic thinking. Planning to fail is like walking into the crowded theater, looking for the exits, and making note of the best route to take out of the building in case of fire. With such a plan, the show can be much more enjoyable. While you don't expect to use the plan, in the rare event that there is a fire, you know what you have to do to survive. Many others without such a plan will more than likely panic and their survival becomes problematic.
Planning for failure can also be planning for success.
At the end of the show, your escape plan can now be your exit plan. That is, you know where the exits are, you see the crowd moving toward the front exit and becoming stuck as they slowly make their way through restricting doorways. You, on the other hand, walk in the opposite direction, go out a side door, and get into your car thus beating the traffic. You succeeded in enjoying the performance and you saved yourself time and effort in the process by having an exit strategy or plan.
Planning for failure can help you to reduce your loses and planning for success can help you to maximize your profits. Planning for both contingencies is called EXIT PLANNING.
When is the best time to build your Plan B? At the same time you are building your Plan A. Too many people build their houses with all the doors opening into the house. If you look around, you will see that most businesses, because of fire codes, have their doors open out. That is their basic Plan B in case of emergency.
The big question today for everyone involved in the Gulf Deep Water Horizon venture is: "How do I get out of this catastrophe alive?" As we see from the news reports, nobody apparently planned for failure. Today they are simply trying to survive and if they do survive,for years to come they will be paying the price for their failure to plan for failure.
Do you have a Plan B? What is your exit plan for failure? What about for success?
Here at B. R. Bainton Associates, we are prepared to help you evaluate your risks and coach you in developing you own exit plan. If you have questions or comments please contact us at brbainton@gmail.com
Dreamers use up your time and they don't pay for any advise you give them.
The recent catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico with British Petroleum (BP)'s Deep Water Horizon explosion and the oil well rupture has capture the national and international news. The crisis is now two months old with no immediate end in sight. This disaster brings home the cost of not having a Plan B.
Now you might ask, "What does BP, a multi-billion dollar international corporation, have to do with me and my small business? The answer is Everything.
Every oil well drilled is an entrepreneurial venture risking $100s of million dollars. BP has the experience and resources for opening new wells. One would think that they would have a plan B in case of failure or accident. But in their narrow, "get it done quickly and cheaply" mind set they have put not only the project at risk, but the company,and all the contingent stakeholders as well. These include those who depend upon the company for their livelihood, the investors, especially pension programs, their neighbors including the fishing and tourism businesses and the tax payers of the states and the nation whose oil they had been given a lease to exploit.
My clients, and prospective clients, don't have the resources of a BP. They don't necessarily have the experience or access to the expertise in their business that BP has. But going into a new business venture carriers the same risks of failure. And while the size their potential losses may be no where as large in absolute terms, they are proportionately infinitely larger for these entrepreneurs than they are to BP.
The lesson here is that BP did not have a Plan B for the Deep Water Horizon well venture. This is proving to be very costly for the company and all its stakeholders. Because there is no Plan B, it could even mean the end of the company as we know it today.
As sole proprietor of your business, you have placed everything you have at risk of success and at risk for failure. If you opt for some protection you might wrap yourself in a corporate form such as a LLC, Limited Liability Corporation, but even that will not totally protect you from the risks of failure.
So how do you protect yourself or at least minimize the risk of failure?
You do so by planning FOR FAILURE. I strongly recommend that you consult the following book if you doubt me - The Ten Commandments for Business Failure by Donald R. Keough.
Oh, I know, this is not the "positive thinking" that new age career/business coaches and gurus preach in their books and seminars. They teach you to think positively, develop a positive attitude, and practice "the Secret". They preach and practice the "build it and they will come" philosophy. But just as a candy bar in the late afternoon can give you a temporary sugar high, these doses of magical thinking don't stay with you very long, become habit forming and lead to a fat, obese ego at the risk of "personality diabetes".
Planning to fail is not negative thinking. Planning to fail is rational, realistic thinking. Planning to fail is like walking into the crowded theater, looking for the exits, and making note of the best route to take out of the building in case of fire. With such a plan, the show can be much more enjoyable. While you don't expect to use the plan, in the rare event that there is a fire, you know what you have to do to survive. Many others without such a plan will more than likely panic and their survival becomes problematic.
Planning for failure can also be planning for success.
At the end of the show, your escape plan can now be your exit plan. That is, you know where the exits are, you see the crowd moving toward the front exit and becoming stuck as they slowly make their way through restricting doorways. You, on the other hand, walk in the opposite direction, go out a side door, and get into your car thus beating the traffic. You succeeded in enjoying the performance and you saved yourself time and effort in the process by having an exit strategy or plan.
Planning for failure can help you to reduce your loses and planning for success can help you to maximize your profits. Planning for both contingencies is called EXIT PLANNING.
When is the best time to build your Plan B? At the same time you are building your Plan A. Too many people build their houses with all the doors opening into the house. If you look around, you will see that most businesses, because of fire codes, have their doors open out. That is their basic Plan B in case of emergency.
The big question today for everyone involved in the Gulf Deep Water Horizon venture is: "How do I get out of this catastrophe alive?" As we see from the news reports, nobody apparently planned for failure. Today they are simply trying to survive and if they do survive,for years to come they will be paying the price for their failure to plan for failure.
Do you have a Plan B? What is your exit plan for failure? What about for success?
Here at B. R. Bainton Associates, we are prepared to help you evaluate your risks and coach you in developing you own exit plan. If you have questions or comments please contact us at brbainton@gmail.com
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Social entrepreneurship - Charity Water
Access to clean safe drinking water is considered by many in the developed world to be a right. Today some people in the west are beginning to recognize the value of clean, potable drinking water and its shortage in much of the world. They are also recognizing the interrelationship between access to potable water and public health and economic development.
I am not surprised that there is a problem. When I served in Peru in the early years of the Peace Corps I encountered and observed a big contradictions in our USAID Alliance for Progress and the Food for Peace program. The former was designed to help develop the rural economy. The latter,The Food for Peace program, addressed the nutritional needs of children through support to school lunch programs in rural Peruvian villages. The program supplied dry milk, rice and other surplus agricultural products from the US. On the surface, this seemed to be a great idea for improving the health of the children. However, there was one big problem -- dirty and contaminated water.
The local water supply was limited in the villages I visited. The same stream or pool was used by humans for drinking, washing food and clothing, and by animals to drinking and in some cases to irrigate crops. From a public health perspective, These uncovered streams and cisterns carried water of very questionable quality.
The problem I noticed was at the schools where the dry milk was being mixed with the contaminated water. Mixing dry milk with contaminated water produces a nutritional rich environment for the waterborne diseases found in the local water supply.
Working with other Peace Corps volunteers and the Programa del Agua Potable, in the Peruvian Ministerio de Salud, we were able to obtain 8 army surplus water pumps to start a program of placing wells at the local schools. Villages were encouraged to dig the wells near the schools to make potable water available for the school lunch program. Village that did this, lined the wells and purchased the pipe for the pump were given a pump. We had more requests that we could supply. The program was such as success that the Peruvian authorities took over the program. They bought pumps available on the local market and made them available under the same conditions.That experience has stayed with me over the past 50 years.
Today water is an even more crucial resource in the developing world. When I came across this video of Charity Water I felt this is an excellent example of social entrepreneurship that can have a lasting impact on those served.
Scott Harrison and Charity Water in inspirational story.I hope you enjoy it
I am not surprised that there is a problem. When I served in Peru in the early years of the Peace Corps I encountered and observed a big contradictions in our USAID Alliance for Progress and the Food for Peace program. The former was designed to help develop the rural economy. The latter,The Food for Peace program, addressed the nutritional needs of children through support to school lunch programs in rural Peruvian villages. The program supplied dry milk, rice and other surplus agricultural products from the US. On the surface, this seemed to be a great idea for improving the health of the children. However, there was one big problem -- dirty and contaminated water.
The local water supply was limited in the villages I visited. The same stream or pool was used by humans for drinking, washing food and clothing, and by animals to drinking and in some cases to irrigate crops. From a public health perspective, These uncovered streams and cisterns carried water of very questionable quality.
The problem I noticed was at the schools where the dry milk was being mixed with the contaminated water. Mixing dry milk with contaminated water produces a nutritional rich environment for the waterborne diseases found in the local water supply.
Working with other Peace Corps volunteers and the Programa del Agua Potable, in the Peruvian Ministerio de Salud, we were able to obtain 8 army surplus water pumps to start a program of placing wells at the local schools. Villages were encouraged to dig the wells near the schools to make potable water available for the school lunch program. Village that did this, lined the wells and purchased the pipe for the pump were given a pump. We had more requests that we could supply. The program was such as success that the Peruvian authorities took over the program. They bought pumps available on the local market and made them available under the same conditions.That experience has stayed with me over the past 50 years.
Today water is an even more crucial resource in the developing world. When I came across this video of Charity Water I felt this is an excellent example of social entrepreneurship that can have a lasting impact on those served.
Scott Harrison and Charity Water in inspirational story.I hope you enjoy it
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