The new year often invokes enthusiasm for a fresh start and renewed commitment to personal and professional improvement. Whether a strategic plan or development plan, there is great opportunity for your organization to plot their course for the coming year.During my decades working with organizations ranging from big universities to small grassroots organizations, I have encountered many that operate without a strategic plan and/or resource development plan. They make it up as they go.Often, these organizations feel using their scarce time or resources to plan is a luxury they cannot afford. I’ve always felt that an organization cannot afford not to invest in planning. Think of your fiscal year like a journey. The organization with a strategic plan and development plan starts their expedition with a clear map that details the ultimate destination (strategic plan) and the specific path of how to get there (resource development plan). It tells them where to avoid the quicksand and desert. They make efficient use of their provisions because they don’t have to waste time and resources finding the best path.On the flipside, the organization without a strategic plan or development plan sets out into the wilderness without a sense of their ultimate destination or their path. They burn resources trying different ways forward, but ultimately find themselves lost midway through the journey. They discard the grand visions in favor of surviving the year.You might be thinking “Of course in a perfect world we would have a both, but that’s not realistic all at once for my organization.”So, how do you decide where to start? Here are some of the frequently asked questions among our clients about strategic plans and/or development plans. Strategic and Development Plans FAQs Question: What’s the difference between a strategic plan and a development plan? Answer: A strategic plan defines what success means for your organization and the best ways to advance the mission. It outlines the organization’s intended impact in the community based on an assessment of operational and programmatic resources and external opportunities.   A development plan operationalizes the philanthropic resources (time, talent, and treasure) needed to accomplish the objectives in a strategic plan. Practically, it articulates measurable goals (Ex: Expand our donor base), development objectives (Ex: Cultivate 20 new major donors), and development strategies (Ex: Implement face-to-face solicitations). Question: How often should our organization undertake a strategic planning or development planning process?  Answer: A deep strategic planning process may take place every three or so years, but strategic plans are most relevant when they are refreshed at least annually to reflect the shifting internal and external environments. Development plans work best when they are aligned with the same time period as the strategic plan, with more detailed annual plans based on last year’s results and this year’s goals. Question: How do strategic plans and development plans work together? Answer: It’s easiest to answer this question by thinking about the absence of one or the other. Without a strategic plan, a development plan lays out tactics without a bigger vision or understanding of whether the strategies are based in the reality of what an organization needs or can accomplish. Without a development plan, a strategic plan is the big picture for the organization without clear actions for how it can be accomplished by philanthropy. Question: Who creates strategic plans and development plans?  Answer: A strategic plan works best when it’s a partnership between Board and key staff. Anyone who owns key pieces of implementing the plan should have a voice in the process. A development plan is often authored by staff, but you can build ownership of the plan by inviting feedback from Board members and volunteer committees. Question: If we don’t have either, should we start with a strategic plan or a development plan?  Answer: Start with a strategic plan so you have a better idea of the scale of philanthropy you need. It will also help you to lay out a philanthropic case for support rooted in the strategic vision, which is the crux of your development plan. That being said, a development plan keeps you focused so that staff and Board commit to realistic goals and strategies for the year ahead. For sanity’s sake, don’t go too long without a development plan! Do you have more questions about strategic or development plans? Let’s keep this conversation going. We want to hear from you! Connect with us here.

This article was written by Olivia Gattuso. She is no longer with Ostara, but we want to preserve this piece so that you can learn from her and from the work she did while part of the Ostara team. Grants Accelerator is a regular blog series about leveraging your grants strategy to enhance organizational sustainability.Grantwriting is often tacked onto the role of an executive director, program director, or development director. Most leaders have the writing skills or content expertise but not always the time to give a proposal their full attention. Grant proposals are checked off the list, but there’s little time to be strategic.According to GrantStation.com, the number one reason people give for not applying for a grant is they don’t have the time. When grants are not the primary focus of your position, it’s easier to push proposal writing down the list in favor of more urgent tasks. Too often, this means deadlines are forgotten and opportunities lost. For example, when Ostara started our work with University Heights Center (UHeights) two years ago, the Executive Director wore a multitude of hats, including grantwriter and primary fundraiser. There wasn’t enough time in a day to do it all (even if sleep was eliminated!). Ostara partnered with the organization to identify opportunities, track deadlines, provide strategy and insights, and write and submit proposals and reports. We focused first on grants for a major remediation project for their 117-year-old building. Because Ostara managed the grantwriting details, UHeights staff had the time and space to focus on stewarding funder relationships. This year, we saw the funder relationships that UHeights built for this project translate into other grant opportunities to support additional capital projects and programs. Our partnership helped increase the resources UHeights needed to expand their staff (including the hire of a Director of Advancement), and build out internal programs like the UHeights Theatre Alliance and Artist Collective. With a solid case for support, increased staff capacity, and a more robust track record in fundraising, UHeights has now decided to take on their own grantwriting in 2020, thanks to the runway we built together. This is a story about collaboration and progress that many of our clients experience, including the end result of a self-sustaining grantwriting program! “Ostara supported UHeights during a  transitionary period of growth. Initially, we thought we signed up for grantwriting, but we received so much more in the way of capacity building and strategic consulting. After 18 months of partnering with Ostara’s team, we hired our first Advancement Director, and after six months of overlap, we are ready to fold grantwriting into our internal staff.“ — MAUREEN EWING, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Limited staff capacity is not the only indicator you are ready to partner with an outside grantwriter. Here are six more signs it’s time: You’re new to grants: Your staff members don’t have grantwriting skills and/or the organization itself doesn’t have a history of grant funding. You don’t have enough resources for a staff position: Your budget doesn’t support a full-time or part-time staff grantwriter, but you see opportunities that a contract grantwriter could pursue for the organization through a focused scope of work. You are launching a new program or initiative: This is a great time to partner with an outside grant writer, who can help you build the case for support from the ground up and craft a long-term grant strategy. You received a time-limited, large grant: This is fantastic news, but you can’t rest on your laurels. It’s wise to build a plan for developing future funding sources so the organization doesn’t fall off a funding cliff when the grant is complete. An outside grantwriter can be a strategic member of your fundraising team as  you work to find ways to avoid that fate. You’re applying to a new type of grant: Sometimes staff are skilled grantwriters, but a grant opportunity presents that is outside of their skillset. This often is the case with large public grants, which vary significantly from most private grants in process and content. If organizations don’t plan to make public grants a regular grant strategy, they often save money by paying an outside expert for the efficiency of experience. You’re losing more than you’re winning: If your decline notices are piling up in your inbox, it could be a good time to get a fresh take on your case for support and prospects. An outside grantwriter brings an understanding of the full sector and available grant opportunities. We often have the inside track on what specific funders really want. For some organizations, an infusion of grantwriting expertise for a short period of time is a pathway to a long-term solution, like a staff grantwriter. For other organizations, the partnership with an outside grantwriter is a long-term piece of their fundraising strategy. Either way, outside grantwriters can help organizations build a sustainable grants strategy that helps secure the resources to strengthen your programs and deepen your community impact. Let’s keep this conversation going. We want to hear your questions and ideas about grantwriting. We’re here to connect.

This article was written by JeeYoung Dobbs. She is no longer with Ostara, but we want to preserve this piece so that you can learn from her and from the work she did while part of the Ostara team. If you have ever undertaken a campaign, you know there are many points along the way where you feel like you’re in a maze or escape room and you’re at a dead end. The top prospect you thought was the linchpin to confirming the goal decided not to give. Your relationships beyond your top prospects were not as warm as you had anticipated. Volunteer leaders lost momentum midway towards the goal. The Executive Director unexpectedly departed from the organization early in the campaign. In my experience with campaigns, the main difference between successful and failed efforts is that a group of dedicated staff, volunteers, or donors kept pushing against the wall when others thought all was lost. They were able to find that secret tunnel that others had overlooked leading to the goal.If you’re staring at that dead end now, how do you keep pushing forward to unlock the secret tunnel? Here are a few tips from the team at Ostara to help you feel your way through the campaign darkness. Make Campaign Leader Roles More Manageable:  Campaigns are long—often several years or more in the making. Even the most dedicated campaign volunteer can lose interest or burn out over the course of the campaign. If you have a campaign committee that is losing momentum, it could be a good time to launch more focused task forces to work on specific phases of the campaign or donor constituencies. Volunteers can feel successful with more time-limited, shorter commitments and choose to re-up their involvement in other task forces. This feels better than petering out of a large committee a few years into a campaign. Identify a Challenge Gift: It can help to focus a campaign with urgent, time-sensitive opportunities like a challenge gift. This can spur donors to make a giving decision if they know their funds will help unlock even more dollars for the campaign. This strategy can be especially effective if the challenge gift also helps the campaign to reach a significant milestone like groundbreaking. Modify Campaign Timeline or Project Scope: Sometimes donors are hesitant to give if they feel a timeline or project is unachievable. Maybe organizational leadership or the community has changed since the campaign was originally conceived. Revisiting the project scope or timeline, in consultation with the community, to see if there are better ways to reach the campaign vision can reinvigorate giving—and build ownership. Launch a Peer-to-Peer Campaign: While we know online campaigns like GoFundMe or Give Lively don’t often result in the large gifts, they are good at building momentum and buzz through number of gifts, especially near the end of a campaign. Sometimes, this renewed energy from online fundraising efforts can inspire significant “topping off” gifts from previous or new significant campaign donors. There are many more ways to get unstuck in a campaign effort. Most of all, keep celebrating the successes—big and small—and appreciating what everyone is contributing—big and small—to the effort. Sometimes, for Board, staff, and volunteers hearing “Nice work. We appreciate you,” is the push they need to keep going forward towards the vision. Let’s keep this conversation going. We want to hear your questions and ideas about campaigns. We’re here to connect.

This article was written by JeeYoung Dobbs. She is no longer with Ostara, but we want to preserve this piece so that you can learn from her and from the work she did while part of the Ostara team. If you have ever undertaken a campaign, you know there are many points along the way where you feel like you’re in a maze or escape room and you’re at a dead end. The top prospect you thought was the linchpin to confirming the goal decided not to give. Your relationships beyond your top prospects were not as warm as you had anticipated. Volunteer leaders lost momentum midway towards the goal. The Executive Director unexpectedly departed from the organization early in the campaign. In my experience with campaigns, the main difference between successful and failed efforts is that a group of dedicated staff, volunteers, or donors kept pushing against the wall when others thought all was lost. They were able to find that secret tunnel that others had overlooked leading to the goal. If you’re staring at that dead end now, how do you keep pushing forward to unlock the secret tunnel? Here are a few tips from the team at Ostara to help you feel your way through the campaign darkness. Make Campaign Leader Roles More Manageable:  Campaigns are long—often several years or more in the making. Even the most dedicated campaign volunteer can lose interest or burn out over the course of the campaign. If you have a campaign committee that is losing momentum, it could be a good time to launch more focused task forces to work on specific phases of the campaign or donor constituencies. Volunteers can feel successful with more time-limited, shorter commitments and choose to re-up their involvement in other task forces. This feels better than petering out of a large committee a few years into a campaign. Identify a Challenge Gift: It can help to focus a campaign with urgent, time-sensitive opportunities like a challenge gift. This can spur donors to make a giving decision if they know their funds will help unlock even more dollars for the campaign. This strategy can be especially effective if the challenge gift also helps the campaign to reach a significant milestone like groundbreaking. Modify Campaign Timeline or Project Scope: Sometimes donors are hesitant to give if they feel a timeline or project is unachievable. Maybe organizational leadership or the community has changed since the campaign was originally conceived. Revisiting the project scope or timeline, in consultation with the community, to see if there are better ways to reach the campaign vision can reinvigorate giving—and build ownership. Launch a Peer-to-Peer Campaign: While we know online campaigns like GoFundMe or Give Lively don’t often result in the large gifts, they are good at building momentum and buzz through number of gifts, especially near the end of a campaign. Sometimes, this renewed energy from online fundraising efforts can inspire significant “topping off” gifts from previous or new significant campaign donors. There are many more ways to get unstuck in a campaign effort. Most of all, keep celebrating the successes—big and small—and appreciating what everyone is contributing—big and small—to the effort. Sometimes, for Board, staff, and volunteers hearing “Nice work. We appreciate you,” is the push they need to keep going forward towards the vision. Let’s keep this conversation going. We want to hear your questions and ideas about campaigns. We’re here to connect.

When we gather with colleagues, clients, friends, and our community, we often tell and re-tell the origin story of The Ostara Group. Rebecca Zanatta and I connected during our time in the Leadership Tomorrow program. As we reflected on the issues that were shaping the Puget Sound region, we were inspired to put our newly honed leadership skills to use. We formed a collective of consultants dedicated to building fundraising skills, organizational capacity, and effective leadership among the nonprofit sector. The longer version of that story includes the highs and lows and the important lessons we learned along the way from you—our community of nonprofit colleagues. The year was 2009 and our region and country were grappling with the painful aftermath of the Great Recession. Washington State’s unemployment rate was hovering above 10 percent. National charitable giving had dropped two years in a row for the first time since tracking began. Yet, along with you and the Northwest nonprofit community, we persisted. The Puget Sound region was one of the few areas that vaulted out of the recession into a historic economic boom. During the past decade, Seattle added more than 100,000 people in 84 square miles. Tech giants rose and so did the cost of living and housing instability. In the middle of our region’s deepening economic and social inequality, we have walked alongside our nonprofit clients as they drove incredible transformation in our communities. Our team recently reflected on what we have learned in the past decade of serving nonprofits. Here’s our top ten lessons list. Hopefully, you will find some wisdom in here to share with your own organization, no matter where you are in your organizational journey. There is no one solution or approach that works best for all nonprofits.  Each organization and the people who power it are unique and need different things. By adapting solutions to your unique strengths and opportunities, nonprofits can achieve innovative and lasting outcomes. Every crisis presents an opportunity. There is always an opportunity to uncover that may lift your organization out of harm’s way and lead to a transformation. If you lose a leader, whether it’s development staff, executive director, or Board member, it’s a good time to reevaluate where you are and where you need to be. New leaders can help uncover previously unconsidered pathways to success. Funders can make lasting change by collaborating with nonprofits. In the past decade, funders have made great strides in reflecting the voices of community organizations in their funding approaches. They can continue to seek out organizations closest to the work and limit reporting requirements. Nonprofits are witnessing the most urgent challenges and solutions in our community and have more to share with funders in the next decade. Organizations are ecosystems. To become a thriving fundraising organization, functions and people can’t be isolated. The more nonprofits connect all corners of your organization so everyone knows what everyone else is doing, there will be greater ability and desire to contribute to the greater mission beyond single roles or departments. Everyone is a leader, leading all the time. Strong organizations foster opportunities for everyone to lead in their own way, regardless of their title, age, and experience. When nonprofits work together, everyone succeeds. Don’t be afraid to talk to your peer organizations to learn what they’re doing. Nonprofits can choose to work together towards a greater good, instead of competing or acting with a scarcity mindset. When the University District Food Bank wanted to add job training in their new facility, they collaborated with Street Bean Coffee to include a café and coffee shop. This created an opportunity for collaborative donor investment, a new opportunity for people served by the food bank, and a pathway to work for those participating in Street Bean’s barista training. It’s necessary to serve communities with an intersectional and comprehensive approach. Whether it’s a community services hub based at a food bank or job training pathway paired with housing, the emerging visions of organizations are underscoring that people and their needs are complex. Siloed and singular services will continue to disappear. The size of an organization doesn’t always correlate with functionality. We have seen big organizations with deep dysfunction and small organizations that are highly efficient, and vice versa. No matter the size, functional organizations have workplans and budgets that are collaborative and based in the reality of need and prospect pools, people who can speak consistently about the mission, and Board and staff make decisions together. Nonprofits that invite the communities they serve into leadership, create greater impact. Communities hold the tremendous leadership, creativity, and resilience needed to develop innovative approaches and solutions. Nonprofits that recognize this benefit from greater mission alignment, less overlap or wasted effort, and increased community ownership of the work. Humor is necessary. The work of the nonprofit sector is emotionally-taxing, but humor is an antidote.  Find joy and laughter together as a team to sustain and nourish your colleagues and the communities you serve. You’re doing the important, meaningful work every day that adds up to years and decades of impact in our region and beyond. We’re humbled to be your partner. When we celebrate 20 years of Ostara in 2029, we hope that the lessons from our community in the next decade point to a thriving region for everyone. We won’t be resting on our laurels—let’s get back to work! But before you do, I hope you’ll join us for Ostara’s 10th Anniversary Party. On October 10th, we’re inviting all our current and past clients, staff, community members, and partners to take a break from the hard work of nonprofit leadership, meet others in our field, and celebrate our work together with food, beer, music, and cupcakes. See all the details and RSVP on Eventbrite or Facebook; we can’t wait to see you there!

When I’m not collaborating with nonprofits, I’m traveling the world. I have visited 46 countries (and counting). Beyond the interesting food, good people, and amazing cultures, my favorite thing about traveling is the opportunity to change my perspective. On a recent trip to Guatemala, I spent two full days on the wrong time zone (my watch and phone didn’t sync) and was two hours late for everything, but people were flexible and patient. This experience expanded my philosophy on time beyond our hyper-punctual American culture. I have worked on behalf of quite a few nonprofits over the years (over 75 nonprofits and counting), and, like my travel experiences, I’m finding that my perspective about major gifts is evolving with every nonprofit I partner with on fundraising strategy. During my days as a Major Gifts Officer, I spent time building relationships based on lists that were prioritized by their connection to the organization, interest in the mission, and—of course—capacity to make a “major” gift. I often started at the top of the list and looked for those who had a good mix of those factors (linkage, interest, and ability). Many organizations have traditionally defined major gift prospects by dollars. Some take a percentage of their total database (i.e. the top one percent of all annual gifts over the past five years), a specific dollar amount (all donors giving $1,000 or more), or the capacity ratings from a wealth screening. While these numbers are good indicators of what a donor can give, they don’t capture someone’s passion for the mission. These simple definitions can lead organizations to chase after phantom donors who gave a gift once or attended one event, but who show little-to-no current interest in the organization. Dollars are an important element of fundraising, but relationships are more complex than that. I have worked with organizations that have inspired me to rely less on simply dollars to define their major donors. Instead, I’m expanding my definition of major gifts to more substantially reflect engagement. Here are some of the elements of engagement and relationships that I encourage you to elevate in your organization’s major gifts formula (alongside the numbers): Volunteering and committee involvement (current and past) for your organization or other organizations In-kind donations (time and talent) Consistency in giving (how many consecutive annual gifts of any size has the donor made to the organization?) Recent event attendance Current and past board involvement You can start expanding your major donor prospect list by adding fields to your database for the above categories. Some organizations will assign numerical ratings to these categories to make sorting and prioritizing lists easier. For example, you could take each year they have served as a volunteer and assign one point. These categories will help you to uncover the supporters among you who are deeply passionate about your mission. You may just find that some of your most significant potential donors have been with you all along. Let’s keep this conversation going. We want to hear your questions and ideas about major giving. We’re here to connect.

I spent a lot of time last year taking the ferry boat back and forth to my engagement as interim development director at Bloedel Reserve, a 150-acre forest garden on Bainbridge Island. In addition to dining on ferry food and watching seagulls fly by, I thought about boats and how they relate to fundraising. Trust me, there’s a connection. In the shipyards of the Northwest, hundreds of boats are being constructed right now. Skilled builders are creating something new that wasn’t there before. They are welding and riveting steel to form the body of a ship and laying wires and pipes to support the internal systems that operate the boat. On its maiden voyage, the boat floats and the systems work together to propel the vessel forward. The boat is now under the command of a captain. While this captain doesn’t know how to build the boat, they are skilled at navigating to the right destination. In an ideal world, this is how fundraising would emerge and grow within an organization. Someone who specializes in building fundraising systems and infrastructure would come first and create what doesn’t exist. They are the Builders. After the builders create strong systems, structures, and fundraising culture, they pass the reins to different specialists. These people take the humming fundraising program and accelerate to the bigger goal: building relationships and connecting people with opportunities to invest in the mission. They are the Navigators. My 31 years in the nonprofit field have taught me that this ideal scenario is the exception, not the rule. Instead, many organizations either build their fundraising systems and culture on the fly or wing fundraising with very little structure. Often, this means Navigator fundraisers are building the structure for fundraising, when their real gifts are building relationships. This mismatch in skillsets leads to burnout and turnover. This is akin to asking boat captains to build their own boats. We need both Builder and Navigator Fundraisers at different points in an organization’s journey. Even if your fundraising program has been around awhile, there may be periods of growth (or stagnation) where a Builder fundraiser is necessary. Builder fundraisers are the unicorns of the fundraising world. They are hard to locate and identify in a hiring pool. A simpler solution is often hiring interim development staff who are specialists in Builder fundraiser skillsets. So, what special roles can Builder fundraisers or interim development staff play in your organization? Mentor: They fundraise through others by teaching fundraising skills and drawing out others’ strengths to create and expand a culture of philanthropy. They know you cannot fundraise alone. Analyst: They listen for and examine any underlying chronic disfunction like turnover or lack of board engagement. Leader: Once they isolate the causes of disfunction or inefficiency, they build support across the organization for lasting change. Designer: They get into the mundane—yet critical—details of fundraising structure. They create any systems, policies, procedures, or plans that are not in place to support fundraising like a database, recognition, annual fundraising plans, gift acceptance policies, etc. Visionary: In partnership with Board and staff leaders, they define opportunities for donors to invest in the mission. They help everyone articulate the tangible difference philanthropy makes for the community. Back to the ferry boat I mentioned in the beginning. My many trips across Puget Sound for the interim development director role at Bloedel Reserve added up to a fundraising boat that is now sailing full speed ahead. Here’s what the Board Chair shared at the end of our time together: “You helped us shape the development director’s role within Bloedel and then fulfilled it in such a way as to get the board and the rest of the staff to understand and accept it…Thanks so much for being a catalyst for change.” Like Bloedel, is it time for your organization to invest in building your fundraising ship so you can efficiently and effectively accelerate to your final destination, your organizational vision? Let’s keep this conversation going. We want to hear your questions and ideas about interim development staff. We’re here to connect.

This article was written by JeeYoung Dobbs. She is no longer with Ostara, but we want to preserve this piece so that you can learn from her and from the work she did while part of the Ostara team. One of our campaign clients has been cultivating a relationship with a significant prospect for several years. They had several meetings, submitted proposals, and followed up with additional information to cultivate interest. They received word this spring that their request for nearly $1 million would be funded for their capital project. The donor? Washington State. We find that public funding, especially from state, county, and city sources, continues to anchor funding in many nonprofit capital projects. While interest in supporting capital can abruptly shift among specific individuals, corporations, and foundations, government steadily invests in nonprofit infrastructure (even considering 2017 when our state leaders failed to pass a capital budget). A sampling of our current and past campaign clients confirms this experience. The percentage of their capital campaign budgets that are funded by public sources (federal, state, county, and city) ranged from 23 to 65 percent. Some individual donors appreciate knowing that these projects—which create significant public good—are collaborations between the public and private sectors. Some comment they have greater confidence in the viability of a project if they know their gifts are being leveraged by significant public dollars. Yet, line items in budgets or public grants are not easy to secure. Just like individual, foundation, and corporate funding, securing funding from Uncle Sam is all about relationships, a strong vision, and well-planned project. If you are considering including public funding in your capital campaign budget, channel what you know works with your individual, corporate, and foundation prospects. Here are our three best pieces of advice for securing government funding during a capital campaign: Identify the Top Prospects Explore all the options available to your campaign based on location, project type, and sector: Federal: There is capital funding available at the federal level from places like National Endowment for the Arts. Senator Patty Murray has a comprehensive list of federal grants to peruse.  New Market Tax Credit Benefits could also be a significant source of funding through tax credits if your project will serve historically under-funded communities. Check out the map to see if your project qualifies. State: There are opportunities to include your project as a line item in the state budget, which can be accessed by advocating directly with your representatives. In addition, Washington State has a robust competitive capital grants programs, including Department of Commerce programs like Building for the Arts, Building Communities Fund, and Youth Recreational Facilities and the Recreation and Conservation Funding Board programs like Washington Wildlife Recreation Grants and Youth Recreation Programs. You can find a good list of the state competitive grant programs here. County and City: Most counties like King County, Snohomish County, and cities like Seattle and Spokane align capital funding with their civic or economic goals (affordable housing, arts access, etc.) and list opportunities on their websites. Some smaller municipalities require you to be in touch directly with the county or city council members to learn about year-by-year opportunities. Build Authentic Relationships For budget processes at the state, county, and city levels, allow months or years to develop relationships with your representatives—senators, state legislators, county or city council members, mayors, or department staff. Like you do with other donors, start by mapping who on your Board or staff has existing relationships. If you’re starting from scratch, reach out and request a meeting as a constituent to update them on the project. You could start this process as soon as a campaign planning study—some of our clients include legislators in the interview process. Mobilize your grassroots supporters for letter writing campaigns or visits with representatives. Some organizations hire a lobbyist to advocate directly on behalf of the capital project. For competitive grant processes like Building for the Arts, departments host information sessions that offer you direct access to program staff to ask questions about the process and clarify how to best position your project. Take advantage of these opportunities to connect in person. Make the Request at the Right Time. Pay attention to project timelines and approach at the right time: Some government programs will not fund your project until it is “shovel ready” (project construction can immediately start). Budget line items are often tied to only a portion of the project that will be complete during the budget biennium (two-year budget cycle) because they are reimbursement payments. Many state grant programs operate on the biennium (every two years) so pace your application appropriately for your project’s timeline. Consider forming a government funding taskforce for your campaign that could include Board, staff, and community volunteers. Like other areas of campaign fundraising, funding from Uncle Sam takes time, strategy, and perseverance—don’t do it alone! Let’s keep this conversation going. We want to hear your questions and ideas about government funding in campaigns. We’re here to connect.

This article was written by Bailey Disher. She is no longer with Ostara, but we want to preserve this piece so that you can learn from her and from the work she did while part of the Ostara team. In a room full of nonprofit employees and volunteers at the recent Washington Nonprofit Conference, my colleague Karen Hirsch asked “How many of you are planning to grow your organization in the next few years?” I was surprised to see that half the room did not raise their hand. Considering the urgent community needs that we are seeing in Seattle, King County, and around the country, it feels like nearly every nonprofit I’ve encountered is outlining future plans to scale up, replicate a program, or grow its capacity to serve the community. Outside of the sector, we are similarly conditioned to believe that if you aren’t growing, you’re dying. However, in the nonprofit sector, growth is not our only option. We expand, shrink, or stay steady based on two primary factors: community need and revenue. Community Need Ideally, we listen to our community and plan a long build-up or ramp-down period based on the needs we observe. In real life, this isn’t always possible. Take for example organizations serving refugee communities. The community needs have grown to be bigger and more urgent than anyone could have anticipated in the span of a few years. Many refugee-serving organizations are racing to keep up with the community demand for their services created by today’s geopolitical reality. They have no choice but to grow. Revenue Another factor in organizational growth (or not) is revenue. Some organizations, regardless of community need, expand or contract based on the availability of revenue. Take grants as an example. I know of too many nonprofits in our region that are living in fear of their “funding cliffs” (when long-term funding ends). Here are some all-too-familiar examples: An arts organization lost major corporate funding in 2016. If they are unable to fill the gap with other grants, they will have to shrink the size of their programs. A community-building organization incubates new ideas for the community, but they choose to follow the funding dollars instead of investing in a long-term program model. They shrink and expand programs based on where the funding is available. A human services organization has doubled the number of grants they received in the last year. They are rapidly expanding services based on this success and assume exponential growth will continue. Yet, many of their grants will drop off in a few years (or sooner). In these examples, the organizations are making decisions about shrinking or growing their programs at the whim of available funding, instead of establishing a realistic and proactive revenue strategy that can fuel program strategy and growth. This approach is all too common in our sector. It is not necessarily a bad approach if an organization is intentional in recognizing this is our strategy. So how do you clarify your strategy for growth (or not), and manage the tension between community need and revenue opportunities? Set clear organizational goals that are bold, but also rooted in reality. Managing the Tension: Goal Setting Whether you have a formal strategic plan or a magic-marker roadmap on a flipchart, a strategic organization should not plan for program growth (or not) goals without a first taking an honest look at what is best for the community need and what resources are available. What does this plan look like? Here are some key questions that your goals can address: How can we most effectively serve the community in the long term? Who does the community need us to be and how does that align with our mission and vision? Do we need to grow to best serve our community? If we choose not to grow, could we instead refine the program model and improve impact for the people we are currently serving? Do we have the operational capacity to support future growth? In addition to added program costs, within our current staff do we have the leadership, administrative, or fundraising capacity to sustain growth? Are we comfortable with the size of the program shrinking and growing with the availability of funds? Are we comfortable accepting funding without a clear sustainability plan after the funding concludes? How do we think about revenue diversification as a method of securing revenue for growth? Instead of larger grants that have funding cliffs are we open to seeking smaller, more consistent grants? Are we willing to invest in the infrastructure to grow individual donations? Are we willing to look at social enterprise or earned revenue sources? How do we think about saving? Do we prioritize funding for immediate needs or build reserves to fill funding gaps or future community emergencies? Invite your Board and staff to ponder these questions together. The conversation can inform a set of commonly-accepted goals that drive your growth (or not) strategy. Then, check-in often. Some or all these goals may evolve every year based on the state of the community, funding landscape, and your organization.  Even if you’re not growing, things are always changing! Let’s keep this conversation going. We want to hear your questions and ideas about organizational growth and funding cliffs. We’re here to connect.

This article was written by Kari Dasher. She is no longer with Ostara, but we want to preserve this piece so that you can learn from her and from the work she did while part of the Ostara team. While I was on Army active duty in South Korea (before my fundraising career began), I was the sole woman, and a starter, on my base’s football team. When I’m sitting in nonprofit Board rooms or staff meetings, I sometimes channel my football background. It turns out that football teams and nonprofits have some things in common – and at least one major difference. Sports teams and nonprofits both have a mission (get more points than the other team or solve homelessness) and everyone has a role to play (quarterback or Board Chair). Success usually springs from a strong team culture or a strong organizational culture. In both football and fundraising, I’m looking to see if everyone is engaged in the mission. Are you actively participating or sitting on the sidelines watching others do the work? In nonprofits, there’s also a subset of organizational culture called a culture of philanthropy. It refers to your organization’s attitude towards philanthropy and fundraising. The Haas, Jr. Fund defines four core components of a culture of philanthropy. When these four components are strong, an organization will attract the resources it needs to advance its mission: Shared responsibility for development: Everyone—staff, executive director, constituents, board and volunteers—shares responsibility for fund development. Integration and alignment with mission: In organizations with a culture of philanthropy, fund development is a valued and mission-aligned component of the organization’s overall work, rather than a stand-alone function. A focus on fundraising as engagement: In organizations with a culture of philanthropy, fund development is no longer separated from engagement. People today are connecting with nonprofits via multiple channels (e.g., social media, volunteering, blogs, meet ups, petitions) and engaging with them in multiple ways (e.g., as donors, volunteers, board members, constituents). Strong donor relationships: Donors are considered authentic partners in the work, not targets or dollar signs. These organizations establish systems to build strong relationships and support donors’ connection to the work. What’s the major difference between nonprofits and football teams? Nonprofits often don’t provide their staff, Board, or volunteers with the “equipment” they need to build a culture of philanthropy, yet they still expect them to raise more dollars and attract more community supporters year after year. On the gridiron, this would be akin to sending your team onto the field without helmets or pads and asking them to score more touchdowns than ever before. It doesn’t work. While there isn’t a switch you can flip or one person you can hire to create a culture of philanthropy instantly, you can jump-start the development of this aspect of your organizational culture by investing in staffing, systems, and planning. Key Infrastructure Investments to Build a Culture of Philanthropy: Staffing: Budget ample resources to hire fundraising staff. If you lead a thoughtful process to hire great staff who align with your mission, offer them competitive wages and benefits, and invest in training and retention, they are more likely to stick around and nurture long-term community relationships on behalf of your organization. Your Board members and volunteers will be stronger partners if they have support from capable, committed, happy staff. Systems: Upgrade your technology to support relationships and engagement. Look for customer relationship management (CRM) databases, payment processing platforms, and website designs that make giving and engaging easy for donors, volunteers, and staff. This isn’t frivolous spending: it’s core to your mission and operations. Not investing in your technology platforms can work against your team and your ultimate fundraising success. Planning: Allocate Board and staff time to three key planning processes annually.  First, encourage integrating fundraising with the overall vision and mission of the organization by revisiting and refining the strategic plan. Second, Board and staff can collaborate to map the annual fund development plan to the organization’s strategic plan—giving everyone insight into the connection between philanthropy and the organizational priorities that your fundraising will make possible. The final piece is a written case for support that informs all fundraising communications and materials. This case can help articulate for everyone in the organization why philanthropy is needed and what it accomplishes in the community. These are significant investments for any organization to make, but there isn’t a better game plan for strengthening your development infrastructure – the equipment your team needs in order to build a culture of philanthropy.

This article was written by Ariel Glassman. She is no longer with Ostara, but we want to preserve this piece so that you can learn from her and from the work she did while part of the Ostara team. Is your inbox like mine during GiveBIG: flooded? Every local organization I have ever shown the slightest interest in suddenly reappears like the Ghost of Giving Past with competing reasons to give BIG to their cause. It’s overwhelming, even as a professional who helps organizations create these very emails. If I’m overwhelmed, imagine how your donors feel. Now, envision opening your inbox on GiveBIG to find an email from your best friend, mother or colleague inviting you to support their favorite organization. I’m willing to bet you open that email first. This is the magic of peer-to-peer (P2P) campaigns. They help your organization to cut through the email noise and reach a new network of supporters through your existing donors. People will become new donors because someone they trust is a donor and invites them to join. GiveBIG 2019 includes a new P2P Campaign feature. This is a big commitment: you need to recruit people to be fundraisers and support them before the campaign, during pre-scheduled giving, and on the day of GiveBIG itself. But P2P campaigns are powerful forces for donor acquisition. Recent data shows that around 50% of donors to online P2P campaigns are new to that organization.  So, for many organizations, they are worth the investment. It’s not too late to decide that you’ll incorporate P2P giving in your GiveBIG campaign. You can check out the Peer-to-Peer Campaign page on GiveBIG 2019 for more details. Ostara’s GiveBIG P2P Campaign Quick Start Guide: Ask Yourself Whether You’re Ready for a P2P Campaign: Do you have the staff capacity to simultaneously develop P2P-specific materials in parallel with your general GiveBIG campaign materials? Is there someone who can be the point person for your P2P participants? Does your organization already have a solid base of volunteers? P2P campaigns rely on relationships you’ve built over time. Organizations with strong volunteer programs or participation are at an advantage. Are your existing donors and volunteers generally comfortable with technology? Do your donors and constituents actively engage with your social media accounts? Do your emails get opened regularly? A lively social presence takes time to build. Develop a GiveBIG campaign plan tailored for the P2P campaign. This includes a timeline and suite of communications aimed at the group of P2P fundraisers you want to build, not your average GiveBIG donor. Develop a P2P support toolkit. This resource can include messaging guidelines, resources, tips, images or graphics, and scripts or templates that P2P Fundraisers can use to easily make their fundraising page and outreach efforts while staying true to your brand and messaging. Recruit P2P Fundraisers. Launch emails to secure commitments from your current supporters to be a P2P fundraiser for GiveBIG. Focus on your loyal donors and volunteers – those who have a long-time relationship with your organization, and/or have a history of consistent, consecutive annual support (especially via GiveBIG). Ready, Set, Go! Once you have your peer-to-peer fundraisers signed up, you should activate them with strategically curated emails that deploy advice and strategies for successful P2P campaigns and content examples. Schedule on your calendar to contact your P2P fundraisers about these action items: Prior to April 18, to make sure their pages are complete On April 22, prompt them to start their outreach when Early Giving launches on April 23 On May 6, remind them to send a “GiveBIG is tomorrow” message on May 7 Contact them twice during the day of GiveBIG itself to thank them and encourage them in their outreach efforts GiveBIG 2019 could be your biggest year yet with new relationships and dollars from the P2P campaign. Don’t forget to think about your plan for after GiveBIG and how you will steward these new supporters to ensure their relationship with your organization grows, not just their relationship with their best friend or mother.

At a basic level, an organization is a collection of people working together to create action. Humans tend to complicate things, especially when they’re in groups (newsflash: it’s not limited to junior high). Even in a strong, sustainable organization you find anxieties, triggers, power dynamics, and interests in everyday life. Imagine what happens when you layer on top of these interpersonal dynamics a major organization-wide transition, turning point, or big opportunity. It’s easy for things to become unclear and messy. The opposite of to complicate is “to make easier,” which happens to be the definition of the word “facilitate”. A facilitator is a neutral leader who can carve out space for collaboration in the middle of chaos. Think of a facilitator as a nonprofit doctor specializing in organizational change. Nonprofits seek this specialist for different reasons at different times in their life cycles. Here are the voices of two Ostara clients reflecting on what led them to engage a professional facilitator: “We were considering launching a new nonprofit in the Seattle marketplace.  Since this new organization would serve a diversity of stakeholders, it was important that we hire a facilitator to help us find consensus from our advisory board about how to move this ‘big idea’ forward.” – AMY LILLARD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WASHINGTON FILMWORKS “We wanted to start at a foundational level and explore our strategic direction with professionals who had an unbiased view of the organization. We were looking for someone who could lead discussions and help us refine the bottom-line outcomes to establish action lists.” – STACEE MCLFF, FORMER BOARD PRESIDENT, FUTURE BUSINESS LEADERS OF AMERICA If facilitation is the prescription, how do you know if your organization needs this antidote, like Washington Filmworks and Future Business Leaders of America did? In the style of David Letterman’s lists, here are the: Top Seven Signs your Organization Needs a Facilitator You want to do something new, like expand or change your mission or vision. You are considering a merger or major partnership with other organizations. There is significant organizational stress or strife and you can’t name the sources. You want to understand the obstacles so you can build a path forward. Your leadership has changed or is about to change (Executive Director, staff leadership team, or Board). Double underline here if your leader is also a founder of the organization. You want to lead and listen to organizational stakeholders to inform the organization’s direction. You are at a crossroads and don’t know where to go. This intersection could include facing a tough reality like declining funding, increasing need, or structural deficiencies. It’s time for a new strategic plan, and not only because the last one is outdated. Your organization is ready to set a new course because you see unaddressed community need or opportunities and you think your organization is the solution. As a doctor would say, if you are experiencing any of these signs, consider the help of a trained facilitator. Like a health challenge, you risk something going from bad to worse or losing an opportunity if you skip the care your organization needs. Muscling through it on your own or inserting an inside facilitator (like a Board or staff member who may have organizational biases) often doesn’t get the organization to where it needs to be at a critical juncture. I’ll leave you with a dose of hope. Here are testimonies about what facilitators made possible for the two organizations I mentioned above. Facilitation is good medicine for organizations: “Having a facilitator made all the difference in the world. I often say that it is some of the best money I spent in my 2018 budget.  On a grand scale, our facilitator helped bring our vision into focus and, ultimately, our new nonprofit to life.  She did it one small, strategic, careful step at a time.” – AMY LILLARD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WASHINGTON FILMWORKS “I don’t think we could have made such significant progress with real priorities and action plans without our facilitators.” – STACEE MCLFF, FORMER BOARD PRESIDENT, FUTURE BUSINESS LEADERS OF AMERICA Whether you work with a volunteer or professional, a facilitator gives you – and every person in the room – the opportunity to participate fully in crucial conversations. An effective facilitator brings a trusted pair of “outside” eyes to any situation. Their only agenda is to create the space your organization needs to have a vital discussion.