Leading Great Charities And Associations
Not-For-Profit Doesn't Mean Not-For-Growth
It was late 2009, and Britain was suffering its worst recession in sixty years.
The nation’s most well-known charity, the Red Nose charity, was holding its annual appeal for money to support children’s causes.
People bought their red noses and wore them at the office. Others bought noses for their car bonnets, in a show of support. Thousands of others found creative ways to raise funds through local events.
At the end of the appeal, the nation had given a record amount of money to this charity. Some commentators were confused. How could this happen at the height of a global financial crisis, and one which had been particularly brutal for money-centres like London?
I wasn’t so shocked. After all, that’s the way human beings think. In most communities, when material security becomes shaky moral altruism often goes through the roof.
When people can no longer define who they are by their earning power, or the size of their mortgage, or the cost of their last holiday, they start to look for other, more altruistic ways to define their values and themselves.
In tough economic times, the work of charities and not-for-profit associations often comes to the fore. Not simply because people need hand, but because folks start looking for altruistic causes to support.
Investing in something that’s bigger than us, something that does more than boost a corporate bottom line, becomes important in times of change.
Volunteerism is on the rise in many parts of the developed world and we’re buying into concepts like Fair Trade as never before.
We want to feel that we’re investing in companies and agencies that will take a part of our investment and use it for altruistic purposes – even if what we’re buying is nothing more than a cup of coffee.
For more than 25 years, I’ve been speaking to leaders of non-profit, community and civic organizations, all over the world. I’ve also had the privilege of pioneering several charitable companies, in Australia, Europe and the UK.
One of the charitable groups we started became a huge network of like-minded charity programmes spread across Australia, then New Zealand and parts of Europe.
In that time, I’ve learned one or two things about what it takes to succeed as a leader of a not-for-profit. Some of these lessons have come from hard-won personal experience; many others from watching other leaders build great organisations.
Here are a few of those lessons.
- Don’t Over-Sell Your Projects or Products
In the midst of heavy competition for the charity dollar, pound or Euro, it can be tempting to over-state the expected impact of a project. Doing so only ruins your credibility in the long-term.
In running a non-profit or public service, trust is your major currency. It must be earned and then distributed wisely. Once wasted, it is almost impossible to recover.
The old adage will serve you well: it is better to undersell and over-perform.
- Never Ask For Money Under False Pretences
As a social commentator, I know that you can find a professional or scientific study to support almost any idea these days. In many cases, studies simply bear out what common sense already suggests.
The problem is, of course, that common sense is no longer all that common! People rely on ‘science’ to teach them things previous generations handed down as basic wisdom or life skills.
In an age when academic studies proliferate, it’s easy to build a case for your project on flimsy foundations.
It’s easy, for example, to take a group of statistics, isolate them from broader trends and draw conclusions that best suit your present cause. Or to quote in your promotions figures that are at best ‘guesstimates’ published by lobbyists, who represent vested interests and are hardly likely to apply rigour to their use of numbers.
Don’t let the worthy cause you’re fighting to promote be brought down by the use of statistics or studies that don’t bear close scrutiny.
- Don’t Misrepresent Your Supporters or Patrons
We all value the testimonials of partners who are prominent or highly regarded in their own fields. They help us attract new partners in their sectors, adding credibility by association.
There is a danger, though, that we can sometimes misrepresent people, in the way we use their endorsements.
Never use an endorsement for one specific project to win support for a completely different or separate project. Doing so will only lose you a valuable friend and ally.
- Remember: You Are Not The Charity
One of the most demoralizing things about running a not-for-profit, especially a charity, is that you can start to feel that your identity starts and ends with the success of the work.
Your value to the charity is your ability to articulate vision, map out strategy and marshal activity. What you bring to the company or organization is diminished, however, if you allow your motivation to seep away because you’re taking setbacks too personally.
When that happens, you can all too easily compromise non-work relationships, such as family, too.
You need to keep a sense of distance between your value and identity as a leader and the current situation of the association or organisation.
The mark of great non-profit leaders is their ability to feel passion for the work without allowing it to consume their entire personalities.
- Move Outside Your Circle
There are times in the life of every leader of a non-profit when those closest to him or her simply won’t get the vision. Well meaning people will question your motives and your results.
‘Why invest your gifts in this area?’ they’ll ask. ‘You’re wasting your time and your talent. Go to where the money is, or where there’s more respect for your value as a leader.’
Great leaders of non-profits are able to accommodate these views without letting them quench the fire in their bellies. At times, though, the pressure from friends may become too great.
If you reach that point, you may need to change your circle of acquaintances. Sometimes, you should change your friends before you give up on your vision.
- See Your Role As A Privilege
If you work in the non-corporate sector, you’ll doubtless experience situations where peers will look down the nose at you. At conferences, networking meetings and the like you may meet people who want less to do with you when they find out you head up a non-profit organisation.
Martin Luther King Jnr. said that a human being has not begun to live until he or she can look beyond their own concerns and see the concerns of the broader humanity.
Mother Teresa thought the same way. After seeing her work and all that it took from her, a young said to her: ‘You couldn’t pay me to do what you do.’ She responded, with a playful twinkle in her eye: ‘Me neither!’
There’s more to success that status symbols such as grand titles, studio offices and large stock portfolios. At times, you may need to remind yourself just what a privilege it is to follow in the footsteps of great altruists and activists like Dr. King and Mother Teresa.
You may not be a saint, but the work you’re doing is changing lives for the better and there can be no better reward than that.
- Commit Yourself To Surprising People
Over recent years, many studies have tried to uncover the secrets of buzz marketing. Buzz is the opposite of old-style interruption marketing. Buzz is informal yet infectious chatter about new products and ideas, which spreads like a viral plague through networks of friends and like-minded contacts.
Buzz is increasingly attractive in an age where we’ve grown tired of advertisers forcing their ideas on us at ever turn. We no longer trust the word of authority figures in advertising; but we do trust the opinions of our friends.
Buzz is informal, but it’s not accidental. It can be encouraged, and one of the quickest ways to do that is by using the element of positive surprise.
If a product, proposition or concept is not too predictable, if it adds a little unexpected sparkle, people are more likely to spread the word about it.
The most successful leaders of charities and non-profits are people who know how to use the element of surprise.
As a leader, the only thing people should be able to predict about you is that you’ll surprise them every time – in positive ways. One of the most effective ways to surprise people is to provide above-the-normal levels of transparency and accountability.
Another is adding services nobody in your field has ever offered before; going the proverbial extra mile to add value for people.
- Study Your Demographic – Then Study It Again.
The age of globalism has given rise to a corresponding growth in tribalism. At a time when barriers are coming down in just about every area of life, people still seek out those who think as they do, and share their interests and ideals.
In an increasingly segmented age, one size does not fit all. You simply can’t reach everyone in your target group with the same message, or the same products or services.
Draw a five-mile circle around your city or region. Ask yourself: who will move in to that circle over the next five years? Who will move out? What ages will they be; what will be their economic, family and marriage status; what types of jobs will they have, or want to have?
Why will these people move in or out – what are their perceived needs? What can my organisation offer these people; how can our unique selling points connect with their unique needs?
These are questions we must answer more than once. The speed of change is exponential today. You simply can’t run today’s vision on data that’s five years old.
- Develop A More Interactive Leadership Style
The age of mass communication has given birth to the era of mass collaboration. People no longer simply consume media; the digital age has taught them they can expect to interact with media.
We don’t simply use websites, we change them as we use them. This is the age of the wiki.
In the same way, people now expect to interact with ideas in every sphere of life. Leaders of charities and not-for-profit associations need to work harder than ever to break down institutional, hierarchical barriers to involvement.
People need to feel that they can give more than their money – they want to give their time, talent, ideas and energy as well.
Much of leadership is, of course, about making unilateral decisions, tough choices that must be taken alone. Yet even then you can share the reasons for your decision and try to demonstrate real concern for the people who’re directly affected by them.
Of course, these are just some of the things we need to address if we’re to stay fresh, vibrant and on track in leading non-profit organizations and associations.
None of these ideas is particularly revolutionary in itself, or difficult to apply. Yet, as in much of life, it is the simple things that often trip us up in leadership.
The Red Nose charity taught us a powerful lesson. People are ready to support good causes and worthy associations, provided that their support produces results and providing there’s room for interaction.
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