Certification: The Charity, Staff & Donor

Working with non-profits for over 30 years has been my greatest privilege and my greatest frustration.

During these years, I have examined the sustainability of the charity, which I believe to be the highest concern of both board members and staff.

The unfortunate situation we have observed places the charity at RISK. Frequent change at the board or staffing levels introduces different ideas, which may or may not benefit the charity, leaving its most important fundraising asset bereft of data and the charity missing its organizational history.

For years, I felt the problem did not have a solution due to the fluidity of staff, their varied experience, and whether job requirements were not well defined. Hence, the charity was at risk with every new development officer, executive director or board member.

An epiphany struck, which I believe is a viable solution to a ubiquitous problem and one that would benefit donors, protect the charity and enhance staff productivity.

What if the charity received a Certification? The certification would identify the charity as an organization that was supported by documented standards, policies and procedures. It would ensure its donors that staff at all levels have appropriate training to engage in donor and data management, as well as have the necessary skills to do the job at hand.

In many charities, skilled staff are few and far between. Software, particularly donor management software, can not be learned through trial and error. Unfortunately, Chaos is the usual outcome. An examination of the donor’s data in many databases shows little information other than gifts. This is not donor management or a source of information for stewardship. It is just receipting.

 The idea that a tool as important as the data management of donors is just an administrative job is completely wrong. It can be a tool used at all levels based on different requirements.

 I once had a fund development manager express that training was expensive. Is paying staff members to do it wrong a cost-saving strategy? Poorly trained staff at any level will lose valuable data because no one has been told it is important to retain it for the benefit of the charity, the donor and the charity’s history.

How donor relationship data is retained is equally important. Handwritten notes, the use of spreadsheets, and an individual’s memory are all inadequate and yet become frequently used methods which are lost when they leave or unavailable for review when they are away.

How would Certification impact a charity, and better yet, how would Certification impact staff and donors?

First, let’s examine the charity.

To Protect the Charity

Office Software and Licensing: Technical Tools

1.    Fund development database

2.    Applications purchased by the organization

The creation of a Charity KMS (Knowledge Management System)

3.    The organization of all electronic files.

4.    The organization of all electronic notes related to donors and funders

5.    The organization of all grant proposals

6.    The organization of all Charity communications

File Backup and Its Frequency

What files are being backed up, and to what location? What is the frequency of backup? This may be contracted to an IT provider, but the charity needs to define what is backed up and how often.

Policies and Procedures

Utilize a Knowledge Management System to manage policies, procedures, and instruction sets. As one of our clients put it. A place for everything and everything in its place.

What are some of the Policies?

1. Donor Receipting

2. Communications

3. Stewardship Activity

4. Recording donor touchpoints:

• Conversations

• Letters

• In-person meetings

Job Descriptions:

Specific requirements to meet the job of Fund Development and Administrative staff in the Development Department.

1.    Knowledge of the Software

2.    All staff are expected to perform their jobs to the benefit of the charity.

3.    Accountability factors

Software Specific Training

1.    Training to ensure staff in the development office know how to use the software, and guessing is discouraged.

2.    Documented requirements based on the software and how it functions.

Data Standards

1.    How different forms of giving are recorded according to government requirements.

2.    Use of Charity Defined Keywords for rapid access to donors, giving criteria for foundations and corporations

3.    Naming strategies for campaigns to enable comparative reporting over years and events.

Instructions

1.    How specific tasks are done to the benefit of the charity and its reporting.

As a software provider who has converted thousands of records from other donor management programs, we can confidently say that the staff who populated these other databases provided little information other than donation history. Where is the disconnect between needed and required?

Lack of defined rules and expectations places the charity at risk, and as staff and board members change, organizational history is lost.

Charity Staff Benefits

1.    Staff training ensures Skills, and not Guessing.

2.    Qualified staff are retained as goals are met, and frustration is not a factor.

3.    Increased morale

4.    Increased productivity

5.    Access to needed documents and files vs lengthy searches

6.    Increased charitable dollars and better staff pay

7.    Increased time for donor stewardship

8.    Increased sustainability

9.    Better and easier reporting to support growth

10.  Continuity when staff change

11.  Consistency in how data is created, recorded and housed.

12.  Organizational history is retained

13.  Backup ensures no loss

 

Donor Benefits

• Confidence that the charity is efficient and effective.

• Confidence that the funds a donor contributes are used by the charity to advance its mission.

• Confidence that the charity operates professionally, rather than at the whim of staff or board members.

• Confidence that any changes are made after careful discussion.

• Confidence that the charity is the best choice to receive their support among similar organisations.

• Appropriate and timely communications, depending on the gift or activity.

• Donor Trust

Comments

Currently, few if any of these issues are dealt with, and every new development staff member implements whatever they have known through past situations, whether good or bad and whether it benefits the charity or not.

This creates Chaos and undermines not only the charity but staff, as there is no strategy for success. We have watched as good methods are put aside, as it was not introduced as a method required by the charity. Should this be the case? We do not believe so, as in this situation, the lost methodology was a loss to the charity.

Fund development and the activity of raising funds is much more than just asking for money.

As a fund development officer, what will be your legacy when you leave the organization?

A certification once given would need to be maintained, or it can be lost. This would inhibit new staff or board members from introducing ad hoc changes that may affect future certification reviews. The loss of the charity’s status would be detrimental to its ability to fundraise and would be noted by its donors.

This may look like work, but consider the hours and data lost as new players change the playing field. The Charity demands the highest level of consideration, not its staff. We have watched the impact of poor decisions and chaotic work by well-meaning but underqualified individuals.

Leadership needs to begin at the top, and knowing what the requirements are for an organization demands knowledge to ensure implementation. The first step is taking responsibility for building and maintaining a high performance environment where staff will participate in meeting the Charity’s requirements and goals.

Who will lead the charge to implement Certification? Will it be donors, funders and governments, as they are the most invested in the effective use of a charity’s dollars?