Planning for the New Normal in 2021: The 3 Cornerstones to Success

Posted on by The Alford Group

By Karen Rotko-Wynn, CFRE, Chief Business Enterprise Officer, The Alford Group and Immediate Past-Chair of the AFP U.S. Foundation for Philanthropy

As I have stood side-by-side this last year with some of the brightest and most creative fundraisers that I know, I have continued to be amazed and in awe of the strength and utter tenacity of the individuals who lead our sector. It is an understatement to say it was an unusually challenging year. Continue reading “Planning for the New Normal in 2021: The 3 Cornerstones to Success”

Be a SMARTIE: An Equity-Forward Approach to Goal Setting

Posted on by The Alford Group

By Michelle Bibbs, Associate Senior Consultant

“The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.” – Coretta Scott King

The start of a new year often inspires goal-setting. In our sector we all strive for more than to just get things done. We aim to drive impact, to change outcomes – sometimes to change entire systems that affect outcomes for people and communities.

The times we are in have made clear that in order to make an impact for more of us, the nonprofit sector – like the public and private sectors – have to center inclusion and equity as core values and lean on those values to guide our work.
If we are not taking an equity-centered approach in our work, then we are only creating impact for some of us, not all.

If you change nothing, nothing changes.  Uncertain times demand that we constantly explore new ways to make change in our workplaces and communities.  In the current “new normal” the question becomes how? Continue reading “Be a SMARTIE: An Equity-Forward Approach to Goal Setting”

Four Elements to Strengthen Your Planning

Posted on by The Alford Group

By Alexis Cooke, Senior Consultant

Organizations have been in constant flux to respond to 2020. Your organization likely implemented crisis response plans quickly after the onset of COVID-19. These response plans may have transitioned into scenario plans to navigate the ongoing crises of this year and/or your organization made substantial pivots or even pauses to your organization’s strategic plans. As the non-profit sector continues to respond to the devastating realities of the pandemic and our country’s social and racial injustices, The Alford Group elevates four specific elements that will strengthen your implementation and positioning for success, if embedded into your planning processes – crisis, scenario or strategic.

#1 Be Analytical

Continue reading “Four Elements to Strengthen Your Planning”

Giving USA and the New Age of Philanthropy in the Pacific Northwest

Posted on by The Alford Group

By Mariah Fosnight, Senior Client Service Associate, The Alford Group

Recently, The Alford Group and Columbia Bank co-hosted the presentation of the 2019 Giving USA data and hosted a panel of Pacific Northwest funders and philanthropists to discuss the findings and relate them to the current realities of giving in the region. The full recorded webinar, including 2019 data and panel discussion, may be found here.

Giving USA, published by the Giving USA Foundation, is part of the Giving Institute which is comprised of leading consulting firms including The Alford Group. Celebrating 65 years, this report is the longest running and most comprehensive and authoritative report on charitable giving in the United States.

Continue reading “Giving USA and the New Age of Philanthropy in the Pacific Northwest”

Certainty in Year-End Fundraising During Uncertain Times

Posted on by The Alford Group

By Molly Hansen, Vice President, The Alford Group

The end of the year is around the corner—the single biggest fundraising opportunity of the year! Just how much year-end philanthropic giving will be impacted this year by current events is impossible to know.

In the fundraising forums that I am part of, I often run across the phrase, “We’ve been here before.” I beg to differ! We have not been here before.

Continue reading “Certainty in Year-End Fundraising During Uncertain Times”

Giving USA and the New Age of Philanthropy in the Northeast

Posted on by The Alford Group

MODERATOR:
Elizabeth Rowley, CFRE, President and CEO, Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan

GIVING USA PRESENTATION:
Amy Hines, Senior Vice President, The Alford Group

EXPERT PANEL:
Sally Cross, President and CEO, Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley

Walter J. Dillingham, Jr., CFA, Managing Director, Wilmington Trust

Never Waste a Good Pause

Posted on by The Alford Group

By Mary Hackett, Associate Vice President and JoAnn Yoshimoto, CFRE, Associate Senior Consultant

It was Machiavelli who first advised “never waste a good crisis.” By that he meant one could look at the opportunities afforded by a crisis to change, to innovate and to improve.

To paraphrase Machiavelli, we advise “never waste a good pause.” Whether it’s a lull in activity or a forced rethinking of business-as-usual, most nonprofits are experiencing a “pandemic pause.” At minimum, everyone should take a moment to consider how to effectively navigate in the new normal. For those who are experiencing a pause, the silver lining is that we can utilize this time to strategically prepare for the future.

We can explore ways to embrace the pandemic pause to PAUSE:

P – Position

A – Analyze

U – Unify

S – Steward

E – Evaluate

Continue reading “Never Waste a Good Pause”

Follow the Yellow Brick Road: The Wizard of Oz as a Strategic Planning Tool

Posted on by The Alford Group

By Michelle Hunter, Associate Consultant

Looking for a way to make your organization’s strategic planning exciting and more relatable? Having a difficult time explaining strategic planning terminology?

Fasten your seatbelt, Toto. We’re not in Kansas anymore.

At first glance, The Wizard of Oz—the widely beloved children’s book by Frank L. Baum, the 1939 film starring Judy Garland, and countless other adaptations for stage and screen—may seem to have little to do with strategic planning: the process through which organizations define their long-term vision and identify strategies and action steps to achieve that vision.

Although the two may seem to be unlikely companions, there is actually a lot we can glean from The Wizard of Oz about strategic planning.

Continue reading “Follow the Yellow Brick Road: The Wizard of Oz as a Strategic Planning Tool”

3 Steps to Light Up Your Donor Engagement Strategy Through COVID-19 and Beyond

Posted on by The Alford Group

By Jennifer Shin, MBA, CFRE, Consultant – LinkedIn

With the cancellation of traditional fundraising events and the elimination of in-person meetings due to COVID-19, nonprofits across the sector are elevating their donor engagement strategies and reaching their base of support in unparalleled ways during this critical time. In my conversations with clients, some are now challenged to think about how to build a more integrated approach to their current donor engagement strategies while using the systems they already have in place as they pivot to plan for the next fiscal year.

Continue reading “3 Steps to Light Up Your Donor Engagement Strategy Through COVID-19 and Beyond”

AFP Greater Arizona Chapter Presentation

Posted on by LuCinda Vacura

March 6, 2018

Not the Culture of Philanthropy you need? You can change it!

Presenter: Mary Kaufman-Cranney, CFRE, Vice President, The Alford Group

Workshop Description:

A culture of philanthropy is essential in any organization to most effectively raise funds but what does that mean and more challenging is, how do you intentionally create such a culture? Mary Kaufman-Cranney, CFRE, will share her journey in taking an organization through a process to create a common language and implement a curriculum to create a measurable difference. She will engage the audience to measure their own organization’s culture and discuss key components and the ideas to make them real so that everyone in your organization appreciates donors as partners who share our goals and participate in achieving them. Participants will leave with a tool to measure philanthropic culture and ideas on how to effect change.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Understanding the why and what of the philanthropic culture
  • Measurable assessment of the philanthropic culture and how you can impact it.
  • Clear expectations of the roles of the board, CEO and CDO in a functioning philanthropic culture.

Take Aways:

  • Knowledge of the difference between fundraising as a function and a culture of philanthropy
  • A measurement tool to use in your organization
  • Practical tips on how to impact your organization’s culture

Meet & Greet: 7:30am – 8:00am
Luncheon/Presentations: 8:00am – 9:30am

Cost: AFP members $30 and non-members $45

Register here

We’re All in This Together: Creating a Culture of Philanthropy

Posted on by Laura Edman

As a fundraiser in the rush of day-to-day operations, deadlines, meetings and metrics, it’s easy to lose sight of the motivations and interests of your donors. Sometimes, fundraising can become more about reaching goals than relating to donors. And it can be a slippery slope – the results of which we’ve seen documented in UnderDeveloped: A National Study of Challenges Facing Nonprofit Fundraising,  which outlined various problems arising in the nonprofit industry, including decreasing retention of fundraising employees and donors. There will be no cure-all for the industry as a whole, but there are steps individual fundraisers can take to see better results in fundraising. Those steps have nothing to do with “doing more” or “doing better”…they are related to an organization-wide shift toward a culture of philanthropy. Continue reading “We’re All in This Together: Creating a Culture of Philanthropy”