Board Member Engagement in Major Giving: Creating a AAA Board

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Board Member Engagement in Major Giving
Creating a AAA Board

• Luncheon Program WVDO
• September 8, 2006
• Kay Sprinkel Grace

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Agenda

• What is a Culture of Philanthropy?
• Building a culture of philanthropy the Boards
  role in philanthropy, development and fund
  raising
• Board AAA Rating Ambassador, Advocate, Asker
• Benefits of the culture of philanthropy and AAA
• Summary and conclusion

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What is a Culture of Philanthropy?

• An attitude, more than anything involves the
  full development team
• Organization-wide commitment to mission, vision
  and values and to building relationships
• An understanding that each interaction with
  anyone from the community is part of the
  development process

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What is a Culture of Philanthropy? - 2

• Everyone thinks development (of relationships)
• Staff and all board and non-board volunteers
  understand the importance and purpose of your
  work (impact)
• Visitors, employees, donors and volunteers feel
  the culture when they are with you

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Tapping Into Your Full Potential Earning the
AAA Rating

• Step 1
• Determine board member motivation through the
  AAA board engagement program

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Defining a AAA Board

• A board with a AAA Rating is one where every
  board member is motivated to be an Ambassador,
  Advocate and/or Asker tapping into board member
  motivation and designing assignments that are
  specific and geared to the board members
  motivation

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Roles Board Members Play in Development and in
Creating a Culture of Philanthropy

• Ambassadors
• Making friends
• Building relationships
• Advocates
• Making the case (formal and informal)
• Key to solid board recruitment
• Askers
• Making the ask
• Front line fund raisers

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Ambassadors

• A role everyone can play
• Starring roles in cultivation of prospective
  donors and stewardship of continuing
  donor-investors
• Need to be well oriented and coached in the
  message
• Masters of the elevator speech (and the
  elevator question)
• Catalysts for donor-investor renewal

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Advocates

• On the golf course or in the car pool these
  individuals are strategic in their information
  sharing
• They may also advocate for your organization on a
  more formal basis with government, another
  organization with which you are partnering or an
  institutional funder
• Are informed not only of the case for support,
  but also are familiar with and supportive of
  your strategic plan and vision
• Are well coached on desired results of the
  advocacy and are comfortable handling objections

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Askers

• They enjoy asking
• Well informed, well trained
• Matched with prospective donors (or current
  donor-investors) for maximum possibility of
  success
• Team them with another board asker or staff
  leader
• Staff organizes the ask so the Askers focus can
  be on the single purpose of getting (or renewing)
  the gift
• They benefit from the work of the Ambassadors and
  Advocates

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The AAA Rating

• Some board members will do it all
• Most board members excel at one or two
• Motivation is increased when board members are
  assigned to roles that draw on their skills and
  align with their comfort zone
• Create a AAA program on your board that engages
  each member in a role that contributes to your
  organizations advancement and helps them feel
  respected and engaged
• As motivation increases, you will find board
  members moving among the roles even to Asker!

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Tapping Into Your Boards Full Potential
Earning the AAA Rating

• Step 2
• Identify organizational attributes that make
  development an easier task

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7 Practices of Successful Public Benefit
Organizations

• Are certain of their mission
• Have a compelling vision for their organization
  and for their community if their vision is
  successful
• Determine and market their values
• Engage donors in ways that help them
  self-actualize

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7 Practices of Successful Public Benefit
Organizations

• 5. Have respected leadership and are
  accountable, transparent and willing to disclose
• 6. Practice patience and persistence in working
  with issues, communities and donor-investors
• 7. Keep their focus on the long term impact of
  investment and the long term engagement of donors

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Creating a Culture of Philanthropy Board-Staff
Partnerships Are Key

• Set high standards for volunteer service and be
  sure you understand the implications of those
  standards for volunteer board composition,
  commitment and roles
• Be sure staff understands and respects the
  potential and the limitations of volunteer/board
  member time, involvement and commitment
• Forge partnerships through trust, respect,
  understanding of mission, common vision, shared
  values
• Engage the full development team

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The Full Development Team

• All staff
• Board
• Non-board volunteers
• Well-stewarded donors
• Tasks
• Ambassadors
• Advocates
• Askers

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Tapping Into Your Full Potential Earning Your
AAA Rating

• Step 3
• Master the mission, vision and values to sustain
  the core of the culture of philanthropy

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Mission

• Mission is why, not what
• Mission moments at board and other meetings
  why they are important to the culture of
  philanthropy
• Evaluating your meetings and materials for their
  mission relevancy
• Mission language succinct, active voice,
  powerful syntax, appealing language

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Vision

• Relationship of vision for donor development
• What is your vision for your community if you are
  successful?
• Sharing and articulating the vision
• How the vision relates to the culture of
  philanthropy, volunteer recruitment, constituency
  development, donor cultivation, the asking
  process and donor stewardship

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Values

• Use values-linked feedback and stewardship to so
  donor-investors feel like stakeholders
• Values are the basis of issues, and issue-based
  philanthropy is the 21st Century phenomenon
• Keeping values vital do you live your values?
  How do you treat each other?
• What do people think about the kind of
  organization you are?

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Tapping Into Your Full Potential Earning Your
AAA Rating

• Step 4
• Understand the full framework of engagement for
  AAAs
• (philanthropy, development, fund raising)

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Philanthropy
Based in values
Development
Uncovers shared values
Fund Raising
Gives people opportunities to act on their values
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Transactional Bell Curve The Way We Have Asked
High Impact Philanthropy Kay Sprinkel Grace, Alan
Wendroff
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Transformational Infinity LoopA New Approach to
Asking
High Impact Philanthropy Kay Sprinkel Grace, Alan
Wendroff
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AAA and the Culture of Philanthropy

• Summary of ideas and impact

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What Board Members Need to Fulfill Their AAA
Role(s)

• This is the starter list
• Transparency (operations, finances)
• Accountability (donor trust)
• Disclosure (good news/bad news)
• Clarity of expectations
• To understand the mission, vision and values and
  how they work in the organization
• To believe in what you are doing (passion)

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Sustaining a AAA Board andA Culture of
Philanthropy

• How to keep the culture alive!
• Board, staff and non-board volunteer training and
  orientation
• Steady internal marketing and communication about
  the impact of your philanthropy on your programs
• Positive feedback showcase successes and
  encourage people to keep engaging people
  (newsletter, bulletin board, intranet)
• Invest in it retreats, materials

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Sustaining a AAA Board andA Culture of
Philanthropy

• Encourage each other (board and staff) to
• Be a champion and create champions
• Be a leader and create leaders
• Treat each gift as an investment each donor as
  an investor
• Be a steward of investments and investors
• Believe in philanthropy voluntary action for
  the public good based in shared values
• Market your successes in your community

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Board Leadership to Sustain the Culture Tasks
of Leaders

• John W. Gardners 9 Tasks of Leaders
• Envision goals
• Affirm values
• Motivate
• Manage
• Achieve workable unity
• Explain

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Gardners 9 Tasks (2)

• Serve as a symbol
• Represent the group externally
• Renew (as a board member)
• John W. Gardner, On Leadership)
• A 10th, Encourage the heart
• Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner (The Leadership
  Challenge)

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A Closing Thought.

• The vineyards of philanthropy are pleasant
  places, and I would hope good men and women will
  be drawn there. Most of all, I would hope it
  will be better understood that if these vineyards
  are to thrive and bear their best fruit, they
  must always have first-class attention.
• Harold J. Si Seymour, Designs for Fundraising

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Board Member Engagement in Major Giving The AAA
Board

• Luncheon Program WVDO
• September 8, 2006
• Kay Sprinkel Grace
• kaysprinkelgrace_at_aol.com
• www.transforming-philanthropy.org