Advocacy vs. Lobbying

I attended the Jacksonville Food Summit this past weekend and heard a wonderful presentation by Katie Ross of U.S. Senator Bill Nelson’s office about the difference between advocacy and lobbying.  Advocacy is when you talk about an issue in broad strokes.  Lobbying is when you are asking for support for a specific bill.  I’m sure many nonprofits are familiar with this because 501c(3) organizations cannot lobby but it always helps to have a refresher.  Katie’s presentation was short, sweet and to the point.  In today’s climate where so many programs are being cut, it helps to have your advocacy lines down.  It also helps to come to the table with concepts that elected officials can support that don’t cost money (barriers than can be taken down).

Here’s what you need to do when you meet with an elected official:

• Know your stuff – have your stats ready
• ROI, ROI, ROI – many elected officials are interested in what the return on investment is for support of a particular issue
• Explain how the issue you are discussing affects the elected official’s constituents
• Know where the elected official stands on the issues.  Know how long they have been in government and specifics about their voting record
• Craft your message.  You should be able to explain your position in 15 minutes or less but make sure you have additional information in case the elected official wants to spend more time on the subject
• Schedule face time.  Whether it is with the elected official or a staffer, it is to your benefit
• Bring along someone who can provide some testimony about the issue
• Have an agenda and make sure someone is taking notes
• Send thank you’s
• Schedule a followup
• Work with the media
• Speak to area groups such as Rotary, Kiwanis, etc. to get your position across

So let the advocacy begin!  Good luck.

Using the News

Many nonprofits don’t take advantage of what’s going on around them in the news media.  It is a golden opportunity to promote their work based on hot topics in the media. 

Lately women’s health issues have dominated everything from social media to print to the airwaves.  If your nonprofit serves women, particularly women’s reproductive health issues, it is the perfect time to promote your work to donors as well as the news media.

You don’t have to take sides – just tell your story and include your return on investment messaging to let your supporters and interested parties make their own conclusions about continued support.

Cause to Communicate wrote this column in today’s Florida Times-Union about public private partnerships

Confusing Mission With Politics

The firestorm over the Susan G. Komen for the Cure pulling its support of Planned Parenthood’s work providing breast exams to its patient population has illuminated the social media world.  It also is a classic example of a board of directors confusing their mission with politics. 

A SGK board of director stated that their group ended the funding because of the investigation currently being conducted in Congress by Rep. Cliff Stearns.  Rep. Stearns is on a witch hunt and his investigation is purely political.  He comes from a very conservative district in Northeast Florida.  The SGK board knew that Planned Parenthood would be the only organization that would be affected by this policy but they charged ahead. 

What the board forgot to do is remember the mission of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure which is to save lives and find a cure for breast cancer.  Their donors believe in that mission.  Apparently Susan G. Komen for the Cure does not.

Capping Pay of Nonprofit Executives

The state of Florida thinks that in addition to knowing how to run a government, they know how to run a nonprofit.  The Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee approved by a 4-0 vote on January 26 to cap salaries for nonprofit executives to no higher than the state’s highest paid elected official.

This number, $129,972, would be the ceiling for nonprofits that receive more than two-thirds of their funding from the state.

There are so many reasons why this is a bad idea it is hard to know where to begin.  If a nonprofit is receiving state money and is not doing a good job, by all means the state should terminate funding.  But by making a statement that a nonprofit executive director can only make so much, you limit the field of qualified applicants.  Nonprofits are businesses.  And to attract qualified personnel you need to pay a fair market wage.

Florida is a state where the University of Florida football coach makes over $2 million a year but someone trying to improve the quality of life

Building A Better Board

With the start of a new year I thought I would address what every nonprofit executive director secretly wishes for – building a better board of directors.

Here’s what my wishes would be for the perfect board of directors:

• Attends majority of board meetings
• Willingly participates in fund development activity
• Willingly donates time, treasure or talent to the organization
• Attends seminars such as Chuck Loring’s Board Development program to better understand role of board member
• Understands that role is strategic focus and fund development.  Does not get into the weeds of tactics
• Asks the right questions of staff and at board meetings
• Does not fall prey to “glamour” ad campaigns that are not affordable and not focused on what the nonprofit truly needs
• Agrees to work with other board members and put personal feelings assign for the good of the organization
• Recommends others to become board of director members who support the organization, the role of being a board member, and fill in the various positions that all boards need

Would love to hear what you think are important elements that make a great board member.  There are so few great boards at local nonprofits.  I’m not sure why but I join every nonprofit executive director in the wish for building a better board in 2012.

Focus, people!

Image by Truthout.org via Flickr

Watching the nightly news recently, I saw a sweet story about a private school where the students were helping the homeless by contributing new sheets for a shelter. The reporter was interviewing adults about how important is was for children to learn about those in need and to contribute. I totally agree. But is it really about giving things that don’t really help?

I don’t mean to pick on just the sheets for the shelter campaign. Let’s talk about food banks. People rush to empty their cupboards of cans they haven’t used in years or go to the grocery store and snap up two for one items to contribute. Yes, the thought is appreciated but food banks would rather have the money. That’s because they have access to purchase lots more food with $1 then a contributor can buy at the local grocery.

Yes, cash is always king for a nonprofit but there are times when nonprofits could use help from the general public through advocacy. Emails, letters, tweets to elected officials about government funding or changing a law can be just as valuable as the dollars to create the campaign.

It may sound like I’m griping but it really is more about focus. People don’t take the time to really investigate an issue and find out what they can do that will really help. Nonprofits are not good at prioritizing what they need and making the case for it. And most nonprofits don’t want to offend anyone or turn away anything even if it doesn’t work well with their goals and/or mission.

As for the homeless, please advocate with your elected officials about concepts like daycare facilities and permanent affordable housing with services. There are many organizations that desperately need cash donations. As for the food banks, remember cash is king and they can stretch a dollar in more ways than you can.

What Nonprofits Can Learn from the Penn State Scandal

The news out of Penn State is horrifying. It is a scandal that tarnishes the core and brand of Penn State not to mention the precious lives of children. It is sad on so many levels but it would be even sadder if we didn’t come away with important lessons learned.

The most important lesson is that it is not about YOU. Somewhere along the way I think Joe Paterno forgot that. Nonprofits need to realize that it isn’t about the most generous donor or the long-time charismatic executive director – it is about the mission and those who are helped.

Tied in with lesson number one is that WE ALL have a moral responsibility to do the right thing. Not just the minimum required by the rules. Joe Paterno and Penn State may have followed the rules process but failed on the moral and ethical side. People there were concerned about their jobs. They were concerned about themselves not about the victims.

A focus on the mission of the organization not the people carrying out the mission is paramount.

Like Politics, All Nonprofits are Local

There’s a saying out there that all politics are local. The same is true of nonprofits. A recent study I conducted for a nonprofit showed that people believe that nonprofits are special because of their knowledge of what works in the local community.

So where does that leave nonprofits that having national ties? The local version of the nonprofit has to know that while national may want you to use their promotion or their statistics or their fundraising materials, to be successful you have to give it a local twist.

Many communities may be too conservative or too liberal or too focused on their own issues to care about what the national organization is saying. And by using national directives on fund development, they may actually hurt the local group’s cause. Donors may not feel comfortable sending their money to the national organization because they want their donation to make a difference in their own neighborhood.

My advice is to tread carefully and to think locally no matter what the nonprofit corporate office says.

A Rant In Support of Liberal Arts Education

Dear Readers,

Please allow me this personal rant in support of a liberal arts education. You see, the Governor of the State of Florida has recently gone on record as saying that he believes tax dollars should only support math and science higher education degrees because, after all, who needs another anthropologist. (Yes, he did say disparage anthropology.)

I was a sociology major in college and use it every day in my job. My husband was a political science major. He had a long career in pro sports and now works for a nonprofit. My daughter was a theatre major. She teaches drama and works as a voice over artist. My son, the philosophy major, works in marketing for a sports company. What do we all have in common besides a liberal arts degree? We can write coherently, we can critically think our way out of a problem, and we’re great strategic planners. And, yes, we all have a job.

The idea that public universities, or in this case Florida public universities, would limit liberal arts types of degrees, just proves the lack of understanding about what these types of degrees bring to the work force. For example, Groupon was founded by someone who majored in music. And, of course, where would our knowledge and even science be without famous anthropologists such as Margaret Mead and Mary Leakey.

The nonprofit world relies on all types of people with a wide variety of degrees to create and serve their various constituencies.

Education of all types is critical to a well-functioning society. Or as a friend of mine said, liberal arts people are the ones who hire the science and math types.