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If you working on raising the money of your dreams, you should always be on the lookout for people who can help advance your cause. After all, you can’t do it yourself and many hands make light work.

The right people can be infinitely helpful to your organization:  they can volunteer, they can donate money or stuff, they can help spread the word, and they can connect you to other people who can be tremendous resources for your organization.

One really great way to get people involved is to invite them to join a committee. People don’t have to be Board members to serve on a committee for your organization, they just have to care about the work your nonprofit is doing, and be willing to give their time and talent. 

By engaging these folks on a committee, it gives them a great place to plug in and serve. It brings new skills and resources to the committee and usually some fresh energy. It can also give you a way to evaluate potential Board members. In other words, when people serve first on a committee, it gives you the chance to test them out to see if they might be good Board members.

I like to see a Board member as the leader of a committee, so that communication can flow easily from the committee to the Board. This also prevents a group of volunteers from running off in the wrong direction (as can happen when they are excited about the organization, but unfamiliar with the overall vision for the future).

To decide whether someone will be a good fit for your committee, first consider the purpose of the committee.  What is the committee intended to accomplish? Will the person you’re considering be a good fit with the others already on the committee? Do they have skills or connections that will benefit the committee? And probably the most important questions: Do they have the time and are they willing to serve?

Don’t add someone simply because he or she is well-known in the community.  Make sure they have the time and are willing to do some work.  Otherwise, it won’t benefit you at all.

And make sure you’re ready to do your part in giving the volunteer a good experience on the committee.  Be prepared for meetings, give them the information and support they need, and be sure to thank them regularly.  When you do, everyone will be more likely to enjoy it and want to do it again.

 

With any big project (and especially fundraising), it’s critical that you start with a plan. Let me share a non-fundraising example to illustrate that point.

I spent last week with a group of friends at a quilting retreat. It was a blast! We laughed and ate and sewed to our hearts’ content. Here’s one of the quilts I finished:

 

 

To create a quilt like this, you have to start with a plan, or at least an idea of what you want the finished quilt to look like.  If you just randomly bounced through your sewing space sewing first one fabric then another, the result would be fairly hideous. You have to think about the colors you want to use and the blocks you want to include. Will your quilt have borders?  Decorative finishes? Will you hand quilt or machine quilt?  The answers to all these questions impact the end result.

In fundraising, it’s very similar. You need to begin with the end in mind. Will you be successful in reaching your goal or not?  Will you include grants? Direct response?  Will you give people the opportunity to give online, in person or both? How will you communicate with them to build relationships?  How will you thank your donors? The answers to these questions (and more) form your plan.

If you are like most, you don’t have a written fundraising plan and it’s holding you back. Yep, that one simple document will make ALL the difference in your success. That’s one reason why I’m hosting a very special training this Thursday, April 26th to walk you through a series of simple steps to put together a written fundraising plan for your nonoprofit. The coolest thing about this training is that it will be livestreamed, which means you can watch and participate live through video on the internet. No travel (and no travel expense!). In just 3 short hours, we’ll put together a roadmap for you to guide you through the rest of 2012 so that you can raise all the money you want. Check out all the details at www.getfullyfunded.com/livestream-workshop.

You can also catch a series of videos I recorded about the need for planning at http://getfullyfunded.com/create-a-fundraising-plan/.

 

You know you need a fundraising plan, but if you’re like most, you don’t know where to start. 

Although planning can seem overwhelming, it’s not really a difficult process, yet it makes all the difference in the world in the success you will enjoy in raising big money. You want that, right?

Let me make it simple for you and share the 9 steps to creating a powerful fundraising plan.

Step 1. Start where you are. Before you can create goals to work toward, you need to know where you are. Anytime you look at a map, you first have to find your starting point. Do a quick inventory of what’s working and what isn’t in your fundraising efforts. An honest assessment of your current situation can lay the foundation for moving forward.

Step 2. Identify your assets. What have you got to work with?  Great name recognition? Compelling mission? Something else? Once you know your organization’s strengths, you’ll know what you have that you can leverage.

Step 3. Set your targets. There are 3 fundraising targets that you need to shoot for – raising money, renewing current donors, and acquiring new donors.  No matter which fundraising techniques you use, you need to include these three targets.

Step 4. Choose your strategies. Pick out the fundraising strategies you want to use that will get you the most donations for the least investment of time, energy, and money, for the greatest long-term gain. Be very purposeful in your choices.Make sure they will work for your organization and support your targets.

Step 5 Set your goals. Once you know which strategies you’ll choose, set goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely.

Step 6. Create a plan of action.  This may be the most important step!  The action plan gives you detailed steps that must be taken in order to reach your goals. It tells you who will do each step, when it will be done, and any resources that are needed.

Step 7. Work the plan.  Taking action is the difference between wildly successful nonprofits and those than languish.  You want to be a successful nonprofit? Implement. Do stuff. Take action on your plan.

Step 8. Monitor the plan. Review your plan frequently to see how things are going. If you don’t ever evaluate your plan, there’s no point in creating one in the first place.

Step 9. Refine as needed. Your plan should not be carved in stone. Things change. Adjust your plan as often as necessary to achieve your goals and hit your targets.

These 9 steps are from the new version of my book “Simple Success Fundraising Plan.“  On Thursday, April 26, 2012, I’ll be leading a one-of-a-kind livestream workshop to walk you through these 9 steps.  Get all the details at http://getfullyfunded.com/livestream-workshop/.

I wrote this article in response to several nonprofits that have been in the news lately, including one in my area.  I believe that training can solve (or prevent) a multitude of Board problems.  However, this works on the assumption that once people know better, they’ll do better.

 

Nonprofit organizations are formed to meet a need in the community and to do it so that no one benefits financially (no dividends to investors). The Board of Directors of a nonprofit organization has the ultimate authority and responsibility for the organization.  The Board is accountable to the organization’s constituents (donors, clients, and the community) to ensure that the organization’s mission is being carried out in the most appropriate way.  It’s a huge responsibility and it’s not to be taken lightly.

Many nonprofits have been in the news lately with a variety of issues.  From Penn State on a national level to the Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corporation (KTSC) here locally, we’re seeing a variety of problems that could have been prevented by a Board doing its job.

It’s never a good thing when a nonprofit is in the news for something that went wrong. It destroys public trust in the organization which can lead to the deterioration of funding from public and private sources.  It can lead to the inability to recruit skilled, committed Board members, and in some cases, can deter people seeking help from the nonprofit.

At KTSC, there were likely many problems that led to the current situation. Here are the common Board problems that I would guess plagued the KTSC Board. By looking at some of these problems and corresponding solutions, other nonprofits can hopefully avoid ending up in the news in a negative light.

Problem #1. Board members who don’t understand what it means to be a nonprofit Board member.  Many Board members are recruited to help out and they quickly agree because they care about the cause. Unfortunately, there are legal and financial responsibilities that people say “yes” to without knowing what they’re really getting into. This leads to them not taking their job seriously enough and staying on top of things later on.  A little education can go a long way toward helping Board members to understand the severity of their job.

Problem #2. Not asking questions.  Every Board member is responsible for asking questions in the Board meeting about anything they don’t understand.  Sometimes, the Board has a culture of not rocking the boat and questions are frowned upon.  Other times, Board members are intimidated by the veteran members of the Board and don’t ask questions for fear of looking stupid.  At other times, members don’t ask questions because they don’t want to prolong the meeting.  They’d rather just end the meeting quickly and go home. Either way, it’s a problem.  When Board members don’t ask questions, they don’t have a clear understanding of what’s going on.

Problem #3. Too much trust in the Board Chair.  When the Board is chaired by someone perceived as a trustworthy, knowledgeable leader, the rest of the Board can tend to become lax and stop asking questions.  They assume the Chair is doing the right thing and for the right reasons, especially when things are going well. And they don’t question anything.  In fact, when the leader is trusted, it seems silly to question him/her. There’s a balance of trust that must exist between the Board Chair and the rest of the Board in order for the organization to function well.

Problem #4. Not enough communication between the Board Chair and the rest of the Board.  The Board Chair is privy to a lot of information about the inner workings of the organization and should share important information with the rest of the Board. When things aren’t communicated, it leaves the Board as a whole in the dark. Sometimes, the Board Chair simply doesn’t know what to share and what not to share. In the interest of transparency, the Board Chair should be open and willing to share everything.

Problem #5. Board not adequately reviewing financial information.  One of the basic responsibilities of the nonprofit Board is to ensure financial stability.  The Board should be regularly reviewing financial statements to make sure the organization isn’t over committing itself, but is in a financially appropriate condition to carry out its mission.

Often, small nonprofit Boards are comprised of individual Board members who lack the skills to review and understand financial reports.  They mentally ‘check out’ by describing themselves as “not a numbers person” and let themselves off the hook.  Unfortunately, this does not excuse them from making sure the organization is financially healthy.

Problem #6. Lack of clear and appropriate organizational policies.  The nonprofit Board is responsible for providing guidance and direction to the organization, including creating (and following) appropriate policies.  Often, policies are created in response to situations where a clear-cut answer isn’t obvious.

Problem #7. Lack of focus on stewardship.  A nonprofit organization wouldn’t exist without its donors and supporters.  One of the basic principles of running a nonprofit is to be a good steward of the resources donated by others.  A lack of stewardship results in arrogance and misuse of funds.

When an organization is focused on stewardship, its leaders are always asking themselves if money is being used wisely.  They evaluate their purchases, routine expenses, and staff salaries to make sure they’re fair and reasonable.

Many of these Board problems can be averted by training. A half-day of basic Board education with a knowledgeable trainer can head off many potentially disastrous issues and give individual Board members a level of confidence and understanding.

All Boards need adequate procedures for recruiting Board members with adequate skills and experience and providing them with a good orientation to the Board and organization.  By setting people up for success from the beginning, nonprofits will avoid untold problems down the road. 

Finally, all Boards need an annual self-assessment to make sure they’re doing the best job they can.  There is no “Board police” who will evaluate a Board to see if it’s doing a good job or not.  A coach or consultant can help evaluate the job the Board is doing and make recommendations or provide training, but it must start with the Board itself realizing it needs help.

The silver lining in this situation with KTSC is that more people will learn more about the roles and responsibilities of a nonprofit Board.  When Boards are stronger, nonprofit organizations will be stronger.  And when more nonprofits are stronger, the community will be stronger.

So, what do you think?  I’d love for you to share your comments. And if you’d like to read the comments on the Knoxville News-Sentinel’s site in response to this article, you’ll find them at http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/mar/18/sandy-rees-problems-in-nonprofits-can-be-traced/

Volunteers can bring enormous benefits to your organization, and if you have great volunteers, keep ‘em! National Volunteer Week is coming up in a few weeks (April 15-21, 2012), so now’s the time to plan a few things to thank your do-gooders.

The simplest thing you can do is to send a hand-written note to your volunteers to thank them for their service. I recommend you thank all your regular volunteers and anyone who has done spot volunteering (just one day) during the past year. You don’t have to send them a trinket. A heartfelt ‘thank you’ will do the trick. For an added bonus, let your volunteers know how many hours they’ve given in the past 12 months and what the value of that time is. On average, a volunteer’s time is worth about $20, so some simple math will let that volunteer know what they’ve added to your nonprofit.

If you want a more social affair to thank your volunteers, consider a reception or a small party with cookies and lemonade. Keep it simple – your volunteers don’t want you spending a lot of money on them! A live event has the benefit of volunteers getting to meet one another. Schedule it when there will already be lots of volunteers around so they can easily attend. Remember they are busy people and won’t come back for something later in the day.

You can publicly thank your volunteers by writing a Letter to the Editor of your local paper. You can express your thanks to your volunteers as a group and talk about how essential they are to your work. Be careful about naming them individually – if you accidently omit someone, there will be hurt feelings!

If you aren’t currently using volunteers, you’re missing out. They can provide extra hands to get many things done. And they often turn into huge ambassadors for your organization in the community.

Spend some time today thinking about how you will recognize your volunteers in April.  You’ve got plenty of time to plan a little something, and I promise your efforts will be appreciated by those who are giving their most precious resource – their time.

I recently led a webinar for AFP titled “6 Simple Steps to Creating a Wrriten Fundraising Plan.” Hundreds of people attended, and there were so many questions that didn’t get answered, that I offered to answer them here on my blog.  Even if you didn’t attend the webinar, you will likely glean some great info from my answers. 

By the way, the information I presented in the webinar came from my “Simple Success Fundraising Plan” which is available at http://getfullyfunded.com/get-fully-funded-books/books-audios/simple-success-fundraising-plan/.

 

How do you get your Board members to listen to you?

I know how frustrating it can be to work with a group of well-meaning Board members, especially when they don’t listen to you.  I can remember thinking “You pay me to be the resident expert and you pay to send me to training.  Why don’t you listen to what I have to say?”

I think it’s a matter of trust and respect.  Every time you interact with your Board, you’re either building trust and respect, or tearing it down.  Think of an emotional bank account.  Are you making deposits or withdrawals? Lots of deposits equals a healthy relationship based on trust.  That’s what you need in order for them to listen to you.

One way you can work on building trust is to set fundraising goals and reach them.  This shows your Board that you know what you’re doing and that you’re trustworthy.

If this doesn’t work, consider bringing in an outside person like a facilitator or consultant.  Many times, I’ve been the outside person to say things that the staff have been saying all along, and where they wouldn’t listen to the staff, they listen to me.  I’m not sure exactly why that is, but I’ve seen it happen time and time again.

  

How do you get other people to buy into your plan?  

The best way to get people to buy into a plan is to get them involved in it.  You may not want them involved in all the details, but find ways to ask for their opinion, advice, and feedback.  Involvement leads to ownership.  Without ownership, people won’t consider it “our” plan, they’ll consider it “your” plan.

If you’re a staff member and you want Board buy-in, start with one Board member, preferably your Fundraising Committee Chair or your Board Chair.  Get their buy-in first, then let them lead the charge to get the rest of the Board on board.  This peer-to-peer engagement usually works very well. On the Board that I sit on, I serve this role and I find my fellow Board members to pay more attention to me than to our fundraising staff.

 

How much time should you invest in planning and how much detail should you get into?

You need to spend enough time on planning and get into enough detail that you feel confident in your plan and your ability to accomplish it.  If you rush through it and slap it together, it probably won’t have enough detail to be helpful.  Remember you’ll get out of it what you put into it.  If you can’t dedicate a full day or two to creating a plan, carve out an hour a day for two weeks and see what you can accomplish.

  

To determine cost per unit of service, do you include all expenses, including salary, operating expenses, and overhead?

Knowing your cost per unit of service can be incredibly helpful to you as you tell your story.  Sometimes, this one fact can tell the story better than hundreds of words.  First, decide what your unit of service is.  It might be an hour of counseling, a single meal for a person, a night’s shelter, or something else depending on the services your organization provides.  Once you have this defined, look back at your total expenses from last year and the total number of units of service delivered last year.  In your expenses, include everything (salaries, overhead, etc.). Then simply divide the numbers to find your cost per unit of service.  For example, let’s say you work for a food bank and your organization handled 6 million pounds of food last year.  Your total expenses were $495,678.  Your cost per unit of service is 495,678/6,000,000 or $0.08.  Imagine the impact that would have on a donor when you tell them for every 8 cents they give, you can get a pound of food to a person in need!

 

What fundraising software do you recommend?

There are lots of great donor-tracking software programs out there.  Go to www.idealware.org to get a good comparison of them.  They will all do pretty much the same thing, so it’s about how much you want to spend and which one you like.  I suggest you download the free trial versions of several of the top ones and try them out to see what feels right for you. 

  

Should an organization fundraise for a Fundraiser (money to pay for a person to raise money)?

Yes.  There comes a point in the growth of every nonprofit where it makes sense to pay someone to join the staff as a professional fundraiser.  The important thing here is to get a professional because they will know what works and what doesn’t.  Don’t attempt to hire someone to work on commission.  It’s considered unethical among professional fundraisers and you won’t get anyone worth their salt. 

  

How do you track renewal rates?  Some donors skip a year.  Do you analyze annually?

First, you have to define an active donor for your organization.  The easiest way to do that is to consider an active donor anyone who has given in the past 12 months.  Then, compare last year to the year before to see which donors renewed their support.  A good donor-tracking software will help you do that.

If a donor skips a year, then I would question how engaged they are in your organization’s work.  Donors who feel connected will give every year and usually multiple times throughout the year. You don’t want donors to skip a year, because that can lead to their lapsing.  Do what you need to do to build relationship and engage them.

You need to look at renewal rates each year so that you can keep your finger on the pulse of your donor base.  You are likely to lose around 35% of your donors each year and you can’t afford to let this happen!  Analyzing your donor renewal rates regularly is a wise thing to do and you can bet the most successful nonprofits out there are doing it.

 

How do you find new donors?

Before you go out looking for new donors, you need to define your ideal donor prospect.  Who is the person who is most likely to want to support your organization?  The place to start is by looking at your current donors.  What do they have in common?  Be sure to answer this question in terms of both demographics and psychographics.  The more clearly you can define your ideal donor prospect, the more easily you can go out and find them.  For example, let’s say that through surveying and research, you discover that most of your donors are women, 55+, college graduates, and married.  They attend church regularly and are very active in the community.  You could then use this information to go find new donors.  You could find speaking opportunities at churches and women’s groups to target this particular group. If you want more info, grab my free CD “How to Attract All the Donors You Need” at www.GetFullyFunded.com.

  

What formula do you use to decide how many new donors you need to acquire each year?

It’s a good idea to constantly work to grow your donor base.  Your base of support is always growing or shrinking.  Here’s one way to think about targeting the number of donors you need to fully fund your nonprofit’s budget: 

• Start with the total amount of money you raised last year
• Subtract any earned income (interest on investments, thrift store revenue, etc)
• Subtract out grants, corporate income and special events

What you have left is the amount of money you raised from individuals.  Divide that number by the total number of individual donors who gave last year to figure out your average gift from individual donors.

Next, think about how much money you’d like to raise this year.  Dive that by the average gift size from last year and that will give you a ballpark idea of how many new donors you need to acquire.

Without doing any math, I can promise you that you need more!

  

What suggestions do you have for approaching lapsed donors?

The best thing to do is to prevent them from lapsing in the first place.  But if you have lapsed donors, sometimes you can renew them with a 1-2 punch of a letter followed up by a phone call.  The letter must be compelling and inviting in order for the donor to renew.  The phone call adds a personal element and often, the human contact is enough to encourage the renewal.

 

How do you calculate staff time costs for special events?

Ideally, you need to have each staff person who works on the event track the time they spend on the event, but an estimate will work.  Simply multiply the number of hours by the staff person’s hourly rate.  This will give you an idea of staff expense for your event.

  

What is the most successful fundraiser you’ve ever worked with?  How much did you raise and why do you think it was so successful?

The most successful fundraising event I’ve worked with was a fundraiser/friendraiser based on the Benevon model.  I’ve implemented it myself as a Development Director and I’ve helped several clients with it.  Results have ranged from $25,000 to $125,000.  I think the main reason it was so successful is that it was based on the donor and their interests and not all focused on the organization.  It was also well-planned and well-executed, down to the smallest detail.

  

How can an organization decide which kind of event would be the best fit for the most dollars?  Is there a best practice?

When you choose an event, be sure to choose one that fits with your organization’s mission and is scalable to grow each year.  It needs to be your organization’s signature event that the community will look forward to each year and associate with your organization. Choose an event that will help you leverage your organization’s assets – things like your compelling mission, any well-known staff or Board members, relationships with the media and so forth.  And execute the event as well as you possibly can.

  

What opinions do you have on rate of return for direct mail? And what tips do you have?

Despite what some are saying, direct mail is NOT dead. If your donors want to communicate and give through the mail, you can raise good money. The rate of return you can expect depends on your organization.  I’ve seen everything from 3% to 20% and it all depends on how well you do with all the little details that will make or break a direct mail piece.  My best tips are to plan out the entire production schedule well in advance, don’t let too many people in on the planning or the writing/editing of the letter, and make sure you mail to the right list.

  

What is the best strategy for recruiting volunteers when you are brand new?

Start with those people who are closest to your organization, like Board members, staff, and current volunteers.  Ask them who they know that might be interested in volunteering.  And branch out from there.  Take advantage of any local resources that connect prospective volunteers with opportunities, and don’t forget internet sites like volunteermatch.com. Before you do ANY recruiting, make sure you are crystal clear about the job(s) you have for volunteers, and be prepared for them.  Nothing is worse that recruiting a great volunteer, then them getting frustrated with you because you weren’t prepared.

 

 

See3 Communications is hosting the 6th Annual DoGooder Nonprofit Video Awards.

For six years now, the DoGooder Nonprofit Video Awards has been shining a spotlight on all the innovative ways that nonprofits use video. The contest is about moving the field of nonprofit video forward and encouraging cause-video creators to try new approaches that make their work different.

‘Different’ is just what The Case Foundation is looking for in this year’s contest. Did you experiment? Take risks? Did you highlight a failure from your past that’s helping shape the future? Share a big idea that will inspire others to dream big? Were you… Fearless? If so, the Case Foundation wants to reward your organization! This year, the Case Foundation is awarding one $2,500 grant to the organization with the most fearless video in each of the four categories, as selected by a panel of special judges.

Learn more and enter at http://www.see3.com/dogooder. The deadline to enter is February 29, 2012, so enter now!

Today is Ash Wednesday which means it’s the start of the Lenten season. Whether you celebrate Lent or not, now is a good time to think about something you can afford to give up in your nonprofit – your poverty mindset.

Most nonprofit organizations were started on a shoestring because someone wanted to help people or change a situation. A vision was cast and the adventure began. Unfortunately, the harsh reality of funding crept up fast, and instead of thinking about how to raise needed funds, founders learn to work within what they have.

It’s like trying to build a house and choosing the manual saw to cut the wood while the power saw sits unused. You’re limited in what you can get done, and everything will take much longer than it needs to.

Way too many nonprofit leaders and staff think small. They look at a book or a training program and say “we can’t afford that.” How about thinking about options and possibilities instead? What if you simply insert the word ‘how?’ Try saying “How can we afford this?” and then brainstorm a list of ways. There are always options.

Poverty mindset stunts a nonprofit’s growth. Adding or expanding programs is tough when you aren’t willing to think big. Think of a food pantry for example. Let’s say they’re serving 50 families a week and they’re satisfied with that. What if we start thinking about the need? How many families are not being served? How many families would the pantry need to serve to totally meet the need? Once the number is identified, fundraising goals should be based on it.

This kind of thinking is riddled with doubt, fear, and negative beliefs. It’s like a gray cloud of gloom that follows you around and keeps you from really moving forward in your organization. It keeps you stuck right where you are in terms of organizational growth.

So how about giving up the poverty mindset and small thinking for the next 40 days and see what happens?

Many of my colleagues and I have been preaching for years that accountability is KEY in fundraising.  And now there are several instances of accountability gone wrong in the news. Here are three and lessons every nonprofit can learn from them.

If you haven’t heard about the Susan Komen Foundation’s debacle, then you’ve been living under a rock. Their decision to cut grant funding to Planned Parenthood was met with such public outcry, that they’ve reversed their decision. The only problem is the damage is already done. Many have become disenchanted with the organization that began the movement that has resulted in a tidal wave of pink across the globe. I predict their donations will suffer and some will decide not to participate in their events because of this. Whether you agree or disagree with their decision, the lesson to learn is that you must think through the implications of the decisions you make. I’m not saying don’t do things that will piss some people off. Just be prepared for the aftermath. Think about the support you stand to lose and base your decision on that. And be very careful about thinking it will never happen to you. Arrogance is the grease that sends you into public relations hell.

In another case, country singer Garth Brooks asked for the return of a half-million dollar gift from a hospital. This sounds to me like a case of donor intent not being honored. The only reason a donor should EVER consider asking for a gift back is when they believe you as the nonprofit aren’t using it appropriately. The solution? First, have integrity and spend the money as the donor intended.  If you can’t do that, don’t accept the gift. Second, communicate. Talk with the donor.  Tell him/her what you’re doing with their gift and how it’s having the desired effect. By the way, this goes for ALL donations, not just the big ones.

Finally, in my local news is the story of a Board suffering from raging ignorance. It has come to light that the Executive Director’s compensation is excessive and some Board members said they didn’t know what her compensation package was. Really? How could you not know? Don’t you ask questions during the meeting? Don’t you look at the financials? That’s your job after all. Every Board has some basic roles and responsibilities, and one of the most important is fiduciary oversight. The Board’s job is to make sure that money coming into the organization is spent wisely and properly. If not, prepare for public outcry and angry donors.

The thing that each of these cases have in common is the nonprofits involved all have damaged reputations. It will take each of them some time to recover from this negative publicity and rebuild the public’s trust. When the public doubts an organization’s trustworthiness, fundraising becomes very difficult if not impossible.

So take a lesson. Always work to build trust with the public. Be a good steward of your resources. Be transparent with your records. Be accountable. And you won’t wind up on the front page of the local paper in a story of scandal.

Last Friday, I got to spend the day with financial expert and guru Dave Ramsey. It was his one-day EntreLeadership program and it was well worth the investment of time and money to attend.

I’ve been through his Financial Peace program (and loved it) and had heard from a couple of folks that they got lots from EntreLeadership, so I decided to treat myself to a ticket.

About halfway through the morning, I knew I had to share some of what I learned here with you. Some of this is straight from Dave, some of it has my editorial on it. Either way, I hope you get something good from these nuggets!

What I learned from EntreLeadership:

If you’re a Leader, act like it! Behave with integrity. Be authentic and inspiring. Be a role model and a mentor. If you’re not this, you suck as a Leader.

A Leader inspires others. An entrepreneur takes risk. An EntreLeader causes a venture to grow and prosper.

Your nonprofit will never grow beyond the skills of your Leaders. Organizations are limited only by their Leaders.

You cannot lead without passion. You must care about the work your organization is doing and engage others in that passion.

Passivity is NOT an option. Make bold decisions and move forward. If you don’t make the decision, it will be made for you.

Stagnation will not move your nonprofit forward.

Indecision is made by fear. Indecision is the greatest thief of opportunity.

Set goals and follow them. If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.

Don’t ask your team to set goals when you have none.

Individual team members can’t have goals dictated to them; instead help the team develop their own goals.

Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until yu value your time, you won’t do anything with it.

If you’ve been through Dave’s EntreLeadership program, I’d love to hear what you thought about it. Leave a comment and share.