September 2000 Newsletter

Volume 2, Issue 4 - September 2000

In This Issue:

Can You SING Your Mission Statement?

How's Your Cost:Benefit Ratio?

LAST CHANCE to Get This Newsletter!

Strategic Planning Made Easy

On-Line Order Form

My Mission / What People Say About Jean Block

Last Chance!

Don't miss out on a single issue of this useful newsletter! To keep this newsletter coming to you, please click here for the electronic form

Yes, But Can You SING It?

Sing it? Sing what? Your Mission Statement, of course! Hmmmm, just where IS your Mission Statement at the moment? Carefully bound in an employee or volunteer handbook? Nicely framed on the wall? In a file cabinet? Cleverly printed on the back of your business cards?

Wherever it is, take a good look at it now. Can you sing it? Does it motivate and inspire? Does it make you feel passionate about what you do and why you do it?

Everything you do now or dream of doing must relate to your Mission. Therefore, everyone involved in your agency - staff, Board member, volunteer, donor - everyone must be able to repeat the Mission Statement. Each one must be motivated and inspired by the Mission Statement and must be able to sing it! Granted, some may sing the Mission Statement in soprano, some in tenor, but all must be on the same page of the music.

Over the years I've seen some incredibly powerful Mission Statements and some I'd use as kindling for the fireplace.

Here's what I know: If your Mission Statement fills a full page and is complicated, people involved with your agency will undoubtedly give mixed messages to others about what you do and why you do it. Most of us have worked and re-worked the Mission Statement so much that it has become stale and has lost its ability to be sung.

Does your Mission Statement need some work? Try this: Ask every member of the Board and every key staff person to write the Mission without looking at it. Gather all the key words with passion, action and clarity on a flip chart. Then add the connecting words to these key words and see if the resulting statement doesn't motive and inspire … and make you sing.

Repeat this exercise every year to keep your Mission Statement fresh and timely.

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How's Your Cost:Benefit Ratio?

While you are taking a look at things around the office like your Mission Statement, you may as well drag out your Development Plan and review it at the same time.

Your plan should be well-rounded with a variety of resource development options and without a reliance on one or two primary sources of income. A good plan could include direct solicitation, grants from public or private foundations, direct mail, special events, federated funds, third-party funding, in-kind contribution programs, endowment funding and planned giving, for example.

Compare the Benefits to the Costs Identify the percentages of your income sources and draw a pie chart. This will clarify how many of your eggs are in which baskets and whether you need to find more baskets or gather different eggs!

Another important indicator regarding the health of your Development Plan is the cost:benefit ratio. After every fundraising effort, carefully analyze the benefits and the costs.

The direct costs and benefits are obvious, but remember to analyze the indirect costs (time, number of volunteers, use of sponsors, etc.) and the indirect benefits (public relations, fun, education of the mission, team building, etc.).

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LAST CHANCE to Get This Newsletter!

As I told you last issue, the cost of printing and mailing this newsletter to nearly 6,500 readers has become prohibitive so this will be the last issue you will receive by conventional mail.

Hundreds of readers have already read the September issue via the Internet before your copy was even mailed. If you want to continue to read this newsletter, click here for the electronic form and I'll alert you by email when the next edition is ready. The email will have a direct link to my web page where you can read current and past copies of the newsletter.

IMPORTANT: Remember to include your email address printed carefully and clearly!

THANKS!

"I love your newsletter! It's refreshing,
fun and filled with helpful hints."
- Toni Paglia,
Director of Development, The ARC
Syracuse, New York

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Strategic Planning Made Easy

I'll bet that somewhere in your office (probably in the same book case as the Mission Statement and the Development Plan) there is a copy of your Strategic Plan. I'll also bet that it is carefully bound in a three-ring binder, has several tabs … and is dusty on top.

This is not unusual. Just as we dread reworking our Mission Statements, most nonprofit agencies and their Boards face strategic planning with as much enthusiasm as getting a root canal.

Prioritize your answers The reason most strategic plans get dusty on the shelf is that they are either so complicated that no one can bear to face them or they lack the three critical elements of successful planning: What, Who, and When.

This year at the annual retreat ask Board members to answer the following: a) What is the single most important issue facing this agency in the next 12 months? b) In the next 5 years? c) In 5 years, what should we have accomplished?

Prioritize these answers and write plans to achieve them. Put up the flip chart, make three columns and don't quit until they are all complete. The three columns are headed: Key Activities to Accomplish Goal, Responsibility, and Target Date for Completion. Voila! Here is your work plan for the coming year. Assess progress at every Board meeting to keep focused on the plan. Assess every new idea against the plan.

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This book puts the FUN into FUNDraising! First published in 1997 and now in its second printing, this book "teaches the basics and helps the seasoned professional remember what works. Jean's high energy, conversation style makes this book fun to read. She fills it with examples that stimulate your creativity" says Marlis Hadley, President of the Easter Seal Society of NM.

Who should read this book? Volunteers and staff of any nonprofit agency, church, school, support group or membership organizations - anyone who is charged with raising money or in-kind contributions.

Call (505) 899-1520 or Email me at to discuss volume discounts for staff or volunteers.

Order Now So You Don't Forget!

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My Mission:

To strengthen the base of support for America's worthwhile nonprofit agencies and organizations, from school PTAs to multi-million dollar national and international agencies.

What People Say About Jean Block

“Jean Block provides our organization with superb board and management planning. All sessions have been productive and fun …we have been extremely pleased with the outcomes of each session.”
-E. Solimon, Executive Director, ARCA

“...her ability to bring a group of people with diverse opinions into consensus by listening, laughing and cajoling. We all walked away from our session with an agreed upon direction which we are still working toward.”
-S. Mann, Executive Director, Ronald McDonald House

Jean Block Consulting, Inc.
7915 Cliff Road NW
Albuquerque NM 87120

(505) 899-1520
Fax (505) 890-5285
Email:

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