Start with why

Posted on October 14, 2020 by Anne Brock

By Randy Nyce

“Start with why.”

That’s Simon Sinek’s well-known advice. For church leaders and religious fundraisers, it’s an important reminder. It’s easy to get caught up in the getting the job done and to neglect the why.

Lake Institute on Faith & Giving’s “Summer Office Hours” were a welcome time of considering “the why.” Especially valuable for me was the opportunity to hear the experiences of a unique mix of pastors, nonprofit fundraisers, and stewardship leaders. The combination of the pastoral, the technical, and the practical created a productive complementary chorus that was surprisingly harmonious.

My measuring stick for a good movie, a good song, or a good conversation is this: Am I still thinking about it in the days or weeks following? The “Summer Office Hours” passed that test. In the weeks since, several of the conversation’s melodies have continued to echo in my mind.

For those of us who believe that giving and generosity are not simply transactions, the fundraising world can be an interesting place that values “completing the gift” above all else.

I recently participated in a national webinar on the topic of inspiring donors. The facilitator, a fundraiser from a big hospital, encouraged making a personal connection with donors and suggested, “if you are visiting a donor and see they have an owl collection, start talking about owls. It doesn’t matter if you like owls or not.”

For that fundraiser, the completion of the gift was the primary goal. The donor is simply the source of funds and the relationship is simply a means to the end.

We are not immune from that transactional posture in religious communities. When budgets run tight and ministry is in jeopardy, it is easy to move in that direction. I’ve found it especially valuable in those times to listen to the pastoral voices around me.

What transformation is God doing in the hearts and lives of the giver? What transformation is God doing in our churches and organizations as we humbly receive the gift? How can we encourage a spiritual discipline of generosity to take root in our congregations and organizations?

Paul’s words of “thanks” to the Philippians (Philippians 4:10-20) has become a favorite as I consider the gift, the giver, and the recipient. I’ll paraphrase what Paul wrote: “Thanks for your gift. I didn’t need it. But you needed to give it.”

That is like no thank you letter that I’ve ever received or had the guts to write. We are changed when we give our gift. Or perhaps, God’s work in our life is demonstrated in our generosity. Spiritually healthy people are generous people. Our work of fundraising and stewardship must keep that spiritual development at its center. As it does, it offers transformation not only to the giver, but also to us as we receive, and to the community as God’s healing and justice is proclaimed.

That gets to the heart of “the why” for me. Henri Nouwen writes in A Spirituality of Fundraising, “We are called to shift our perspective from a singular focus on financial needs and goals to a more integrated effort that includes—and even prioritized—the quality of the spiritual journey of everyone involved.”

The “Summer Office Hours” created a productive space of dialogue—integrating the spiritual, the pastoral, and the technical—to reflect and reorient.

Randy Nyce is an Everence Stewardship Consultant in eastern PA, working with churches, nonprofits, and families to develop stewardship, financial, and planned giving programs and strategies drawing from his experience as a teacher, nonprofit director, and church lay leader.

Racial justice giving is booming: 4 trends

Posted on October 9, 2020 by Andy Ware

There’s been an outpouring of giving in honor of Ahmaud Arbery and other victims of racial injustice. AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez

Kim Williams-Pulfer, IUPUI and Una Osili, IUPUI

The tragic, high-profile killings of George Floyd and other Black Americans in 2020 have sparked a reckoning on race. As researchers of philanthropy, we’re keeping an eye on how this national awakening is affecting charitable giving across the nation.

We are seeing an outpouring of donations from individuals, corporations and foundations that began to grow as soon as protests and other activities in support of racial and social justice started to spread across the country.

Much of this funding will likely support Black-led groups engaged in criminal justice reform and fighting for education equality. Wealthy donors in the first half of the year gave nearly US$6 billion in donations of $1 million or more, but people of at various income and wealth levels are also increasingly supporting racial equity causes and organizations.

1. Crowdfunding related to victims of racial injustice

The GoFundMe pages crowdfunding to seek justice for George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake have all attracted at least $1 million so far.

Floyd’s GoFundMe memorial campaign has garnered more donations than any other campaign in the online platform’s history, raising over $14 million with 500,000 individual donors from 140 countries worldwide. Many of these gifts to the impacted families of police violence were for $5 and few were for $50,000 or more.

2. Direct support for grassroots organizations

After Memorial Day weekend, when Floyd died while in custody of the Minneapolis police, many Black-led grassroots organizations began to draw much higher levels of support as the protests garnered more participation and attention.

For example, when protests erupted, the Minnesota Freedom Fund, which advocates for a more equitable system of cash bail, turned its attention to bailing out arrested protesters. Once the fund reached a total of $20 million in donations, its organizers urged donors to support Black-led organizations.
Other grassroots organizations and networks also received support, such as the National Bail Fund Network, which received $80 million in donations in late spring.

Even before the protests erupted, the Movement for Black Lives had received $5 million in the first five months of 2020 to support Black communities affected by the pandemic and to address broader issues of racial equity. This was nearly double the $2.7 million the group, founded in 2014 following the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, raised in all of 2019, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

The Libra Foundation announced that a dozen grant-making organizations were joining together to give a total of $36 million to Black-led organizations and social movements like The Black Youth Project and the National Black Food and Justice Alliance.

These numbers provide only a partial estimate of total giving to these causes, and it will take at least until mid-2021 for the IRS to begin to release the official records and statistics needed for a fuller picture of giving to these groups. Based on data from Candid, a research group, institutional funders and large donors have contributed $5.9 billion for organizations primarily engaged in in racial equity work to date.

3. Shoring up HBCUs

Historically Black colleges and universities, often called HBCUs, and related groups that fund scholarships for the students who attend them, are getting more donations in 2020.

HBCUs in the past received fewer donations of $1 million or more than other institutions, a pattern our colleague Tyrone Freeman has been studying for years. As a result, HBCU endowments are relatively small.

All told, the roughly 100 HBCUs have a total of only $2 billion in their endowments. By comparison, 54 predominantly white colleges and universities have $2 billion or more in their own endowment.

In 2018, for example, there were seven of these major gifts totaling $48 million. In contrast, there were at least 33 of these donations by mid-September of 2020, totaling $347 million, according a list of these donations of $1 million or more compiled by The Chronicle of Philanthropy and tracking by statistician Xiao Han of additional news reports and public information disclosed by donors and the schools.

These philanthropic lifelines for Howard University, Morehouse College, Spelman College and other schools have totaled in the hundreds of millions of dollars from donors like MacKenzie Scott – Jeff Bezos’s ex-wife – Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Corporate giving for Black colleges and other causes is also on the rise. In early June, the Financial Times reported that Microsoft, Google, Amazon and other large corporations had recently pledged at least $458 million to support progress toward racial equity, including support for higher education. All told, Apple has said it donated $100 million or more to assorted racial equity initiatives.

4. Black philanthropists are leading the way

Donors from all backgrounds have turned their attention to increasing calls for racial equity. While new donors are turning their giving to racial equity issues, wealthy African Americans have contributed to causes that support racial justice and equity.

In recent years, we have continued to see affluent Black people, such as the entertainer and fashion icon Rihanna and basketball great Michael Jordan, make significant philanthropic commitments.

Along with other colleagues at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and in partnership with the Bank of America, we are conducting a long-term research project regarding affluent donors. Based on our findings in our 2018 report, at least half of all wealthy Black donors supported African American causes, compared to 6.5% overall of all surveyed donors.

Additionally, 43.8% of the wealthy Black donors surveyed indicated that they made giving to groups that aim to improve race relations a high priority, as opposed to an average of 5.7% all donors.

A diverse range of donors are also increasingly participating in providing large racial justice gifts. These gifts include Kroger supermarket chain CEO Rodney McMullen and the hedge fund investor George Soros’ Open Society Foundations.

In mid-September, philanthropist Susan Sandler announced that she was giving a total of $200 million to an array of racial justice groups. Sandler’s disclosure echoed Scott’s announcement, in July 2020, that she was giving $587 million to HBCUs and racial justice organizations.

That means established civil rights organizations such as the NAACP and the Urban League, and newer racial justice groups like the Equal Justice Initiative, which aims to end mass incarceration and advance racial equity, and the Center for Policing Equity, a think tank focused on improving racial equity within police departments, are all getting a boost.

Kim Williams-Pulfer, Postdoctoral Research Appointee-Mays Family Institute on Diverse Philanthropy, IUPUI and Una Osili, Professor, Economics and Philanthropic Studies; Associate Dean for Research and International Programs, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, IUPUI

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Leading the change for good

Posted on October 7, 2020 by Abby Rolland

Richard Klopp, Ph.D.’15, works across continents to strengthen small- to medium-sized nonprofit organizations by leading change management practices. He currently serves as the chief people officer for Water for Good, the Central African Republic’s first ever locally-owned and operated water drilling business.

Learn more about him and his background, knowledge, and experiences, and what led him to complete a Ph.D. in philanthropic studies.

Richard Klopp (RK): I was born in Indianapolis in 1962. My parents did missionary work in Mali, West Africa, and so I had the opportunity to grow up in the city of Timbuktu. We came back to the USA when I was 18 and two years later the family moved to Québec City, Canada, where I became a Canadian citizen.

I have worked in the nonprofit sector since 1990. I have mostly focused on startup and turnaround; both nonprofits trying to launch business ventures, or businesses trying to launch social ventures. A lot of my work has been with organizations focused on Africa since that is where I grew up.

Essentially, I developed a form of consulting that allowed me to work with small- to medium-sized ventures, by taking a position, either as staff or a contractor, and leading change management in that part of the organization or for the whole organization. So I’ve been the executive director, CEO, COO, CDO of a number of organizations, but I’ve always hired to lead the change needed in that organization. It’s been a unique but extremely satisfying career.

I’ve mused that I have probably been the true “knowledge worker” that Peter Drucker wrote about. One can easily see why the Ph.D. in philanthropic studies was a real boost to the work I was already doing and have continued to do since. As I often say: the problem I discerned early on is that the social sector was split between activists who didn’t pay enough attention to what academics in the sector write, and academics who didn’t pay enough attention to what practitioners do.

I wanted to bridge that gap within myself and within my practice; for a practice informed by the best-known theory, and theory linked to best of class practice. Fortunately for me and my clients over the years since then, I found the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, where these two worlds come together in every class.

What brought you to the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy?

Richard Klopp, Ph.D.’15

RK: I noticed early on in my career of helping organizations isolate and solve their managerial problems that most issues would somehow connect back to the way the organization was resourced. In other words, in order to solve problems on the demand side of organizations, I found myself constantly working on the supply side of these same organizations.

So the thought occurred to me that if my professional goal was to help my clients solve their problems, I should necessarily develop knowledge and expertise on philanthropy, fundraising, and any other topic associated with how social change ventures located and leveraged the resources they needed to function. To pursue this interest initially, I read every book I could find on the topic.

I gradually noticed that quite a few of these books were from Indiana University Press. My mom was an IU alum, and so I looked into why books on philanthropy and fundraising would be coming from Indiana University Press. Of course, this is how I found out about the then Center on Philanthropy. In 2005, we moved from Québec City to Indianapolis, where I started the Ph.D. program. This was one of the best decisions I have made in life, as it opened me up to learning, new colleagues and the chance to home my intellectual and practical skills so as to better help the organizations I continue to work with to this day.

What kinds of practical knowledge did you gain at the school?

RK: I gained historical knowledge of philanthropy and the nonprofit sector. I have used this knowledge countless times now in the very practical work I do with and for my clients. What many people seem to not know, but that I learned via the school, is that most problems organizations face have been faced by many others before. Often solutions can be found by looking back instead of looking around or forward.

What was your specific area of study, and how did that help with your career goals?

RK: My specific area of study was trying to find out why it is commonplace to assume that poverty is amenable to social scientific understanding and solution. While Bono was encouraging all of us to believe that we could end poverty in our lifetime, I was learning that this concept was already over 100 years old, was called scientific charity or scientific philanthropy, and although all of our books on the history of philanthropy mention the phenomenon, no one had really spent much time studying the late 19th century movement.

The Lilly Family School of Philanthropy is the kind of place where you can pursue topics like this. Knowing the history of the ideas that I was pursuing in my professional life has made me a much better manager as I work in the relief and international development sector.

What are you doing now?

RK: I have my own consultancy, AVENIR Consulting. The degree allowed me to professionalize my practice, develop an amazing network of colleagues from around the world, and work with clients that I know hired me due to the fact that I have a Ph.D. in philanthropic studies.

Right now, I am working with organizations that raise philanthropic capital in order to use it to help under-served entrepreneurs grow their businesses. I’m focused on doing this both in North America and in Africa.

Who do you most admire in the field of philanthropy?

RK: I admire the unsung heroes of philanthropy, the millions of people who care for others, help others, and in some practical way display other-oriented feelings and action in their milieu. They won’t make it into our books, and will never be a picture on the wall, never make the news, and will never be recognized for what they do, but this is the core of civil society and the deepest meaning of philanthropy: love of humankind.

Fundraising for small nonprofits

Posted on October 2, 2020 by Abby Rolland

How many small nonprofits best fundraise during good times and bad? Learn more from Bobbie Donahue, veteran fundraiser and faculty member at The Fund Raising School.

Bill Stanczykiewicz (BS): if you’re a nonprofit that has a budget of less than $1,000,000, you’re not small. You’re actually typical, and there are specific fundraising techniques that you can use to have an impact. I’m Bill Stanczykiewicz, and this is the First Day from The Fund Raising School. I’m joined by veteran fundraiser Bobbie Donahue. While she has raised money for some larger national organizations and universities, she also has a lot of experience at the grassroots level with smaller nonprofits.

Bobbie Donahue (BD): I have a real heart for the small nonprofit.

BS: When you look at the data, there are about 1.5 million nonprofits, and about 75 percent of those have budgets less than $1,000,000. There are some very specific fundraising techniques for “smaller nonprofits.” What stands out to you as major themes that small nonprofits need to be aware of?

BD: Well, I think one of the major themes is that leaders think that they have to do it by themselves, and there’s so much that they’re doing. They’re taking on programming, they’re doing the newsletter, they’re managing the board. They’re trying to fundraise with all of these other things happening.

Fundraising somehow pulls off, then falls over. So when they get to their office, they see this hat tree with all these hats they have to wear. Sometimes you can get someone else to help you with that. And that’s where your board and your volunteers are critical.

One of the things I hear is why take the time to train the board? I could get it done myself. That’s probably true the first time. What about the second and the third and the fourth time?

If you train volunteers, you can turn some of these hats to them, and you can move on to the critical issues that only you can handle.

BS: What is this hat tree at a small nonprofit? How does that tie into fundraising?

BD: With small nonprofits, there are a lot of things to be done and each one is a hat. So you have the tree back there and you’re putting on your editor hat and you’re doing the newsletter. Put the editor hat back and you’re putting your cleaning hat because you have to sweep the floor. And then you put that one back, and then you put on your suit coat and you go meet with a donor. Whatever it is you have to do, there’s all these hats of things that have to be done. Trying to balance all of those things is a challenge.

For me, the best thing to do is figure out a plan because that can protect you in a lot of ways. You have people come with these ideas for you to try instantly. Well, if you’ve got a plan, you can say, ‘Here is what I’m doing. What would you like me not to do because there are still only 40 hours in a week.’

BS: So having that idea of what we want to do and involving others. At all nonprofits, we need 100 percent board giving. We need our board members providing prospect lists and introducing us to others. This is especially true for smaller nonprofits. Bobbie, what advice do you have?

BD: Oh, absolutely. The biggest thing is to ask for help. Come to your board meetings and say, ‘Here’s our plan for the month. Here’s where I could use your help.’ There are some board members who are not going to be comfortable asking for a gift. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be involved in board fundraising.

Every board member should be involved in fundraising in some way. That can be opening the door, calling and making the appointment, going with you, and just telling their story. When they get more comfortable and they will, then they’ll be ready to make the ask by themselves. But that’s all part of the training process when you take a board member with you and say, ‘OK, these are my three top board members: they know the mission, they’re passionate, they’ve have already made their gift.’ Then they can tell their story and ask people to join them when they go out with you to make the ask.

So many folks will say, ‘Oh, we’re just glad for what we’ve got.’ If you don’t ask for more, you don’t give a better opportunity to make a big difference.

BS: Bobbie, what about other volunteers? What about some of the longtime donors? Can we recruit them to help us in an agency-wide fundraising effort?

BD: Anyone who loves your mission and can tell that story can be involved in fundraising. So it doesn’t just have to be the board. It can be anyone who comes in and tells you, ‘let me tell you why I got involved’ or people who grow their gifts over time. Those are people whom you want to talk to.

BS: Now you talk about growing gifts. We’re grateful for the gifts we receive. When people start giving to us many years in a row though, we have room to invite them to upgrade their gift. What do you see among smaller nonprofits? Are they staying at the base of the pyramid and do they need some encouragement to maybe move toward some of those upgraded gifts so that they can grow?

BD: Absolutely. They get comfortable with where they are, and it goes to the fear of asking because they think about it from a money point.

However, you are making a change. Every nonprofit is making a change for the better in the community. People who continually give you money want you to make that change. They’re making that investment so that you can make the changes in the community that they want to see. So when you talk about that, it’s not about the money.

Frequently, I’ve had donors say, ‘What do you need?’ You have to be ready to say, ‘Well, in order to increase the number of people we serve, we’ll need this much per participant or we need this much money to provide the programming, the equipment, etc.’

You have to give them an opportunity to invest in the change they want to see.

BS: We’re not saying that this is easy. Many of our small nonprofits are in a situation where they’re doing well, and now they need that next infusion of financial support to be able to grow even further.

So that can be hard while you’re busy with successful programs to meet with those donors and ask them for upgraded gifts. These smaller nonprofits grow over time by building that donor base and asking people for upgraded gifts as they continue to welcome new donors in with help from many people.

Bobbie, what is possible for a small nonprofit?

BD: It goes back to planning. Dreaming is so important. As the need grows for your services, you have to approach your fundraising in the same way. Talk to your donors and find out what they want to invest in. It will make a big difference.

I worked for a small organization that wanted to do a special program, and they talked about it for a long time. One year, we put it in the strategic plan for three years out. Because we shared that dream with our board, that dream was fulfilled within 24 months. If you don’t share what you’re dreaming about, people can’t buy into the dream and see the possibilities. So plan annually, but also do a strategic plan that invites people to come together.

BS: Our good friend Jim Morris, who’s on the IU board of trustees, likes to say, ‘leadership is about seeing your opportunities in their greatest context.’

So when you think about a gift range: for a $250,000 budget, you ask, ‘do I have a $25,000 gift, or do I have a pair of $12,500 gifts and then can cascade down from there?’ When you think in those terms, Bobbie, it seems like there is possibility for these gifts.

BD: There are absolutely possibilities for those kinds of gifts. It’s about sharing the vision and what changes people want to make. You can build from that bottom.

If you don’t ask, people won’t know what the need is, and they won’t understand the difference that you’re making in the community.

2020, the year of athlete activism

Posted on September 30, 2020 by Andy Ware

Muhammad Ali and Martin Luther King Jr. — Muhammad Ali (left) and Martin Luther King Jr.

By Keenan Harrell, M.A.’21

2020 has been a year like no other. From the COVID-19 pandemic, which took the world over by storm and exposed the severe systemic inequalities that exist in the U.S., to the killings of unarmed African Americans like George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor and the civic unrest that has ensued, this year has been a story of immense heartbreak.

Despite such a woeful narrative surrounding this year’s reckoning with racial inequality and social injustice, there’s still opportunity for triumph. From renewed interest in civic engagement, to citizens bonding over shared inequities and unifying to eradicate them, there is promise of a more just, fair and equitable society on the horizon.

Keenan Harrell, M.A.'21 — Keenan Harrell, M.A.’21

In all of this, we’ve seen prominent athletes utilizing their platform through conventional and nonconventional methods to enact meaningful social change. Through activism, athletes and sports organizations are playing a crucial role in the current fight to achieve racial equality, social justice, and systemic change within our country.

Athlete activism is not a new phenomenon. On April 28, 1967, Muhammad Ali, one of the most influential and prolific boxers the world has ever seen, stood proudly in his religious convictions and challenged America’s status quo when he refused induction into the U.S. Army. He did so as a conscientious objector to the Vietnam war. Often met with staunch criticism, Ali remained outspoken not only against his opposition to the Vietnam war, but also the oppression of Blacks in America.

Ali was bold. He was fearless. He understood that his position as a high-profile athlete gave him an extremely valuable and elevated platform to raise awareness around topics of injustice and discrimination; issues that he wasn’t just passionate about, but personally affected by. Ali’s legacy is the embodiment, and perhaps, maybe even the blueprint of modern-day athlete activism.

Today, activism through sport is more prominent and perhaps more effective than ever before. Athletes are taking matters into their own hands – utilizing their notoriety and platform to bring to light issues that have plagued our society for far too long, such as racism, vast inconsistencies within our criminal justice system, economic disenfranchisement, police brutality, gender inequality, and more.

It’s these very issues that are being addressed by some of our most prominent athletes and sports teams. Furthermore, it’s not just awareness or attention they’re raising; they’re producing tangible solutions as well. For example, NBA star LeBron James recently launched the More Than A Vote campaign to educate, empower, and mobilize citizens to vote, combat voter suppression and increase civic engagement, especially within black and brown communities. He’s also recruited other prominent athletes such as Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and WNBA star Skylar Diggins to support and advance the campaign.

Another example of athletes using their platform to advocate for social change is the story of Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick, former NFL QB and outspoken champion for racial equality, captured America’s attention when he began to kneel during the national anthem played prior to every NFL game. He did this to bring awareness about systemic oppression, racism, and police brutality endured disproportionately by black and brown communities in the U.S.

Despite sacrificing his professional football career, Kaepernick’s activism has led to significant changes within the NFL and other prominent institutions that are likely to advance the fight against racism and inequality for years to come.

Kaepernick’s protest reignited the national conversation about race relations and police reform in the U.S. While these conversations have illustrated how polarized different groups in America are in addressing these systemic issues, enough support and attention was raised to inspire more athletes and sports organizations to take similar stances as Kaepernick.

Since Kaepernick’s initial protest in 2016, numerous players, leagues, etc., have taken a knee as a form of protest and continue to do so today. Despite being regarded by some as a controversial method of protest, kneeling has become synonymous for speaking out against systemic oppression, inequality and social injustice.

Sports play an extremely unique, yet valuable role in our society. Clearly, sports are more than just entertainment; they’re a reflection of our shared beliefs and represent some of our humanity’s best traits: common purpose, unity, teamwork, and overcoming adversity. Because of this, it’s imperative that we remain open-minded in recognizing athlete activism and/or the platform of sports as a legitimate tool in helping to solve some of our society’s most critical issues.

Athlete activism is here to stay. Not only am I a firm believer that sports will grow as a conduit in catalyzing positive social change, I also believe that they will play an integral role in creating a more equitable and just society for all.

Keenan Harrell is currently pursuing his master’s degree in philanthropic studies. He is the community relations manager for the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens. See Keenan’s story.