Now, with that as a base for this entry I am compelled to note that I’m not “mad” at the events below. Not at all. In fact, if anything I pity the people who are in charge of increasing the fundraising outcomes of the institution involved in the story. Read on and find out what I’m talking about…

A few weeks ago I was invited to attend a special reception for a local organization where I choose to donate a few dollars each year. The reception was organized and hosted by a select fundraising team within that organization (which is separate and apart from the full fundraising team that raises money for this institution). I’m blessed to be fortunate enough where I can donate a few bucks each year to several of my favorite charitable causes so I know the deal at these receptions – you go there, the hosting organization does what it needs to do to make you feel welcome and like you’re one of the team, eventually a professional fundraiser comes around and makes either a hard or a soft ask (i.e. they ask for a donation), and then you reciprocate their kindness for hosting the event with a check or commitment for a future check.

Any professional fundraiser out there can tell you that this is the standard sequence of interactions (boiled down to a very simplistic nature) at one of these events. The donors know it going into it, the fundraising team at the organization plans for it, and everyone representing the organization should be prepared to play their part.

Well, apparently this sequence wasn’t so standard at the event that I attend a few weeks ago. One of the first things that I noticed when I arrived was that there were a great deal of people who worked for the organization at the event. At first glance, one might wonder what’s going on, but this is also part of the basics of fundraising. If you’re hosting a fundraising event on your home turf, then you bring out the entire team to meet and mingle with the donors. This organization had a big number of its staff available to talk to the donors when they arrived. Speaking of the donors (and guests of donors, which is another common tactic to grow a donor base – inviting the friends of donors), I noticed that there were probably 15 – 20 donors milling around mostly talking to one another. I didn’t think anything of it since I was just walking in the door.

After getting a table for my buddy and I to sit down at, we went and got a drink and some food to pick at while we sat down. Some five or ten minutes went by and I started talking to my buddy about the fact that it was weird no one had come up and spoken to us yet. In reality, we hadn’t been made to feel welcome since we arrived. Not only were the front doors of this particular building locked (weird), but the young hostess who was supposed to say hello to the people who were walking into the event was busy tapping away on her cell phone when we walked in. Then after we put our jackets down and all through the time we got some food and a drink, no one spoke to us. So after those ten minutes went by, I began looking around with a more critical, fundraiser’s eye.

The first thing that I noticed was the same first thing that I noticed when I walked in – there were a lot of employees for this organization milling around. However, now that some time had gone by, most of the organization’s employees had gotten themselves some food and sat down to eat – with one another. The donors were sitting by themselves (having a good time, by the way) just like my buddy and I were while the organization’s employees (who outnumbered the donors perhaps 2-to-1) were sitting by themselves (equally having a good time). On the surface, the event looked like a lot of fun! People were hanging out, having a drink, chit chatting, etc. But looking at this event through a fundraiser’s eye was scary.

Another five or so minutes went by and one of the organization’s newer employees walked over to the table where my buddy and I were sitting. Without getting too much into the conversation (since I’m obviously trying to hide the nature of the organization as well as the type of event that this was), this employee made a very good impression on my buddy and I. The employee was well-spoken and when they asked for our (non-monetary) support, my buddy and I knew that it was an earnest ask. After this employee moved on, I thought that maybe I was wrong in beginning to judge the inability of this organization to operate a proper, special event fundraiser because this person gave the perfect set up for one of the professional fundraisers to come over and talk to me about giving to the cause.

But that personal, one-on-one follow-up never came.

Oh sure, I saw the head of the fundraising department walking around as well as the head of this special unit walking around – neither of them talking to most of the 15 to 20 donors (and about as many friends and relatives) who attended the event. It was shocking, really. Again, without going into too much detail believe me when I say that this is an organization that has a great deal of experience in fundraising and I’ve seen them throw phenomenal special events in the past. But this event a few weeks ago did not put their best foot forward at all.

My takeaways from this special event were: 1) the organization’s employees must have seen this as an opportunity to get free food and drink without having to work (i.e. socialize and sell the product) for it, 2) the organization didn’t really care enough for me to continue increasing my donation each year since I wasn’t spoken to by anyone whose job it was to raise money, and 3) the new employee who talked to my buddy and I showed just how out of touch the organization’s long-time employees are with the hard work of raising money and building support.

Coming out of this event, I re-evaluated my budget for the rest of 2012. Back when I created my budget last year, I planned to donate a few additional dollars to this organization in 2012. However, I was so turned off by the way the organization’s huge number of employees preferred to socialize with one another while eating the food and drinking the drinks that were there for the donors, that I rolled back the amount of money I was going to donate to its 2011 level. In fact, the more that I think about how poorly operated the fundraising portion of the event was (especially since there were a variety of high-level people walking around also doing nothing but eating and socializing with each other), I’m considering rolling back my donation even further.

Like I wrote above, there are several organizations where I choose to donate my money. And look, I don’t expect to have an organization kiss my ass because I cut them a check – that’s not why I donate. However, I wouldn’t mind having a fundraiser come and shake my hand and “dance the dance” with me. I serve on the Board of several nonprofit organizations and – in my nonprofits – I would never tolerate the type of organizational gluttony and lack of focus that I saw a few weeks ago. Frankly, it was so off-putting that I would have fired a few people (yes, more than one) by now.

But, I’m not in charge of the organization who hosted the event nor do I want to be. I’m just an aware, cognizant donor who understands the value of the dollars that I choose to invest in nonprofit organizations. I have a variety of similar special events coming up in the next few months. It’ll be interesting to see which of those nonprofits can keep their house in order during the special events and play the game with the donors the way that it is supposed to be played. Sure, I don’t salivate over the prospect of someone asking me for money at one of these events, but I do expect that my prior contributions will be respected enough for someone to at least consider asking me for a future donation.

It’s Fundraising 101.

In particular, Schmitz says the following:

By virtue of their low pay, long hours, and high-intensity nature, campaigns are always filled with young people. But the Obama campaign recognized and empowered young leadership…The campaign’s all-hands-on-deck approach meant that the top fundraisers and policy advisors – whether they were Goldman Sachs partners, Hollywood stars, or law professors – were expected to canvass door to door and be managed by 22-year-olds. They did so, reporting for duty enthusiastically and building respectful and supportive relationships with these young field organizers rather than questioning them or taking over.

Ah! Talk about music to the young, nonprofit professional’s ears! The biggest problem that I’ve found so far in New Jersey’s nonprofit sector is the entrenchment – for better or for worse – of aging leaders. I cannot stress enough the phrase “for better or for worse” in this statement, though. There are people like Msgr. William Linder in Newark who should be involved in community development at all costs and at all times! This man is a saint for the work that he’s done to bring much needed services to the underserved communities of Newark. The same is true of so many dedicated, older professionals in the state’s nonprofit sector.

However, in my work I find many organizations that have a tremendous glut of young talent who are suppressed under an old style of management. What’s more concerning is that in New Jersey you rarely find high-level executive positions in the nonprofit field being filled by the under 35-year-old crowd. And that’s a shame because it pushes talented folks out of the nonprofit arena and into the private sector. You do see younger folks being named Executive Vice Presidents and Directors of this or that program, but that’s generally in young organizations with less than five employees and they are usually organizations that aren’t too substantial.

What I’ve seen in my own experiences are the elevation of inept individuals with little-to-no leadership skills. Actually – let’s just say that there are NO leadership skills! Anyway, reading Schmitz’s article was nice because it reminded me of how things are supposed to be.

It costs more to acquire new donors than to retain them, experts say. But churning through donors also makes it harder to woo benefactors. “Donors don’t want to be funding fundraising,” says Sargeant. “They want to be funding the work you’re trying to do.”

And they’re demanding much more accountability from the nonprofits they bankroll. If they don’t get it, they walk, says Penelope Burk, president of the fundraising consultancy Cygnus and Associates.

This is it – this is what the nonprofit industry comes down to. First, are you asking for someone to make a donation that goes to a cause or goes towards paying for salaries? Second, are you willing to explain your expenses and why money is put in certain places as opposed to others? Third, are you doing what you actually said you would be doing?

The answers to these three questions are why I donate to the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation. When I donate to the SPEF, I am giving a tax-deductible donation to two specific funds (both of my choosing) that are managed by people I know on a first-name basis and can e-mail at 1:00pm and receive a personal response by 2:00pm. These funds are under the oversight of a Board where I know many of the members on a first-name basis and have many of the cell phone numbers in my phone.

That level of trust is hard to come by in the nonprofit sector.

I helped put these two funds together and I know where each dollar is spent. I know how much of the fund’s earnings are spent on administrative expenses and I know how much goes back to the overall end-user and it what forms (scholarships for the undergraduate fraternity brothers). At any time I can pick up the phone and call the President of the SPEF and have a discussion with him.

There’s a level of trust and reliability there that you cannot build very easily. Hell, my own company is a nonprofit and I’ve yet to donate or invest any money with them! I’ll be changing that in the New Year, but it has taken me the better part of 16 months as an employee to even reach that level of comfort.

So be sure that you know the places that you’re donating to and be sure that you know where the money is being spent. And hey, if you feel like you can’t make an impact with any organization, then donate to the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation! It’s a good group with a good cause which I’d be more than happy to talk to any of you about!