At first, it was a way of making a lighthearted joke. A way of alleviating the stress and worry by volunteers about the job they had been doing for weeks or sometimes months at a time leading up to a single event. “How did we do?” “Is it OK?” The caterers would be unloading their tables and chairs. Some volunteers were preparing to leave and go home to change to be back in time for the gala. The director would smile and reassure everyone.
“Don’t worry. It will be dark, and they’ll be drinking.”
The joke would be the ice breaker that the volunteers needed, that everyone needed. Because special events, art parties, fundraisers and especially formal gatherings of institutional advancement professionals can carry a lot of weight and are hard work. Everyone gets nervous as an event approaches. Many organizations rely on one or two major events a year for a large portion of their budgets. It’s where the rubber hits the road.
Volunteerism is the lifeblood of nonprofits. The most successful organizations are the ones that invest enormous efforts in thanking their volunteers, developing plans for continuity and continuation of services, and work to avoid the dreaded compassion-fatigue when it comes to institutional road maps. It all seems easy when a team of volunteers is working with other people’s money under the direction of one or two paid staff. These projects are fun. At least that’s the way it should seem, from the outside.
Premiere organizations, the ones that have grown from perhaps seeds planted by a few like-minded individuals around a coffee table, or a card table, or a poolside table under an umbrella with a backgammon board nearby, these pioneers understand that sustainability drives success. “How can we make this work?” Grants and other institutionalized funding opportunities need something to grab onto and even then, can only carry an organization so far.
Receiving a $2,500 matching grant is a wonderful thing. To successfully develop and implement a planned giving campaign that actually works beyond theory is even better. To invest in wisdom and understanding and self-sustainability through gift-giving, experiential events, education and community capacity building is champion cohesion and it fosters and encourages civic engagement. It’s donor relations, and those vested in the process understand what I’m talking about.
These are the organizations that embrace philanthropy in its truest form: “the voluntary, private act of giving time, talent and treasure to improve the lives of others and advance the public good, driven primarily by the desire to help rather than tax benefits, public recognition, marketing or political influence.” That’s a lot to digest when stepping forward.
But we also don’t live on Mars.
Avoiding the pitfalls of returning to the same source of support repeatedly or asking the same business networks for discounted services or breaks in budget considerations is a constant challenge in the real world. The 501(c)3 culture can wear thin on business and project development and suddenly the community has lost track of what’s important. Quiet philanthropy suddenly becomes not-so-quiet and frankly, irritating when the organization seems to exist simply to raise funds versus raising funds to simply further the mission. It’s a unique distinction.
For some organizations, angel-supporters do the heavy lifting annually, and are happy to do so. But when change happens — and it always happens — without a broad-based plan for continuation of services, an organization can be left with unresolved fiscal issues to the point where some involved will start calling for one of the worst possible things an organization can do under duress, “We need to start thinking about revisiting the mission statement.” This one phrase can cost an organization valuable time and resources and can lead to a mass exodus of longtime supporters; and if not handled properly, a complete dissolution.
The go-getters who discover the operational deficits will suddenly find themselves in charge of special events, or fundraising, or membership drives, or the not-so-regular newsletter, or, for heaven’s sake, social media. President, vice president, secretary, treasurer come first, some will say, then everyone else. “The horror, the horror” to quote Mr. Kurtz in Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness.”
Rarely are the best candidates in the right positions. It’s the nature of the beast. More often than not it’s because the person who had been in the role for so long has simply decided they’re tired of continuing day-in and day-out. Exhaustion, and for the sake of their own mental health, and the health of their family, they are more than happy to hand over the reins and enjoy the events for what they are: events.
Retirees who suddenly find themselves with no spare time to enjoy the life promised to retirees are people who can’t say no. The volunteer who sees an opportunity to create a paid position within a nonprofit and works to position himself or herself over a more qualified candidate on paper might do a far better job and demonstrate greater fiscal responsibility carrying forward the founder’s hopes and dreams with great acumen. It’s hard work and anyone dedicated to the field of nonprofit philanthropy and who is making a difference in the lives of others and the community should be commended. It is a vocation, and one worth pursuing.
But not all nonprofits have paid staff, and the term “nonprofit” certainly does not mean “no profit.” Nonprofit also does not automatically mean 501(c)3. That’s a federal designation, and it means contributions may be tax deductible to donors. Everyone needs a deduction now and then, right? The biggest month of the year for donations is often December, and the days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve sometimes see a flurry of activity. This, of course, is an oversimplification. For details, speak to your financial adviser.
But organizationally, a community of nonprofits and a culture of community philanthropy will elevate quality of life for so many and the different strategies for success will vary in as many ways as there are organizations. Community Chests are always good. Giving and giving back become the ebb and flow of sustainability and the beneficiaries of this charitable tide are the communities themselves.
Some join for fellowship and camaraderie, while others get involved after a life-changing event. Retirement after a life of executive decisions and routines in the for-profit world can seem disorienting; a Second Wind Award is always appreciated. But whatever the reason and effort, organizations are always glad when others respond to the call, “service above self.” It’s the noblest effort. Read Kenne Fant’s “Alfred Nobel: A Biography” for a sense of perspective.
Professional facilitators can easily walk any organization through a SWOT analysis. It’s not “rocket-surgery” and it’s good to do from time to time. The process can help identify generic goals. But how it all fits together as one unified effort B2B is up to the organization itself. Analyzing (S)trengths, (W)eaknesses, (O)pportunities and (T)hreats is certainly important but it revs the engine in neutral and until the clutch is released and the foot is on the accelerator, it’s hard to identify exactly how fast the enterprise will go. Pun intended? Absolutely. Light speed.
Ask any volunteer and they’ll confirm the action is in the trenches; in the day to day. If an organization doesn’t have a designated, active and updated markerboard that is scribing progress with articulable goals so everyone is on the same page with where things are internally and externally with the organization, then operations are misfiring and donors will notice. Apply the principles of certified entrepreneurial community programs to the nonprofit sector and watch what develops. Good happens.
The ask is always important, but it’s not a close. If every interaction “in the wild” is an effort that requires hat in hand, it becomes harder and harder to find the rabbit, much less produce one when it’s needed the most. Mission matters, funding matters and people matter. Mission. Funding. People.
When I founded KMX Research LLC, after a career in the nonprofit world, it was with the belief that private companies, by default, create a foundation for something bigger. This belief was the core of the PV community philosophy that was passed down to me by my father and something passed down to him by his father. This belief took root on the First Coast. It did not happen in isolation. I grew up asking questions about what was worth keeping. Were we all just tourists at heart? Could a trip to Marineland be a life-changing event? What I witnessed growing up on the Boulevard with Alice and Roy Landrum as next-door neighbors on one side and the Van Kennens on the other, was a respect for the PV first families and their children, and their children’s children. And now, their children’s, children’s children. 2028 is right around the corner.
Built into the foundation of KMX Research are two U.S. utility patents I was awarded in 2020 and 2022. We offer a program that supplies artwork specifically targeted to 501(c)3 nonprofits for silent and live auction fundraising. Through our institutional development and advancement program, GIVING BACK, we donate original iron gall monotypes to select foundations and institutional causes to demonstrate our commitment to community stewardship. Premier organizations and small capital community organizations are welcome to contact us for an authenticated original monotype for silent auction, institutional giving or development programming. It’s food for thought.
But what is an iron gall monotype? First and foremost, it’s technology. Iron-tannin reactions were first documented by Pliny the Elder in 77 A.D. when he recorded in “Naturalis Historia,” what would become the world’s most durable ink chemistry. Does our IP cover all iron gall ink? Absolutely not. But the chemistry that authenticated civilization’s most important documents is now protected as a monotype medium combining first-century technology with 21st-century innovation to create an entrepreneurial landing zone within an emerging field of research. One process. One source.
This is marketing, of course, but the reality is that when the arts align with science, the potential for success and growth is increased exponentially. This is the root of small business and entrepreneurial development from our perspective, especially within the nonprofit sector where so many diverse and interesting perspectives are brought together for the common good. Ideas that matter invariably rise to the top.
When someone says, “I have an idea,” listen for their delivery and intonation. If it’s lowering, as in creating five syllables out of four words, like: “I have an i-dea,” chances are greater than not, the next words the person is about to speak carries at least some wisdom. A rising intonation will denote hesitancy; and there is plenty of hesitancy when it comes to ideas.
There is no magic formula for creating organizational sustainability for any nonprofit organization. No one has a crystal ball. But when we give others a leg-up where we can, and are satisfied in our endeavors, we’ve done the best we possibly could have done with all things being equal in this smartly casual place of all places, Ponte Vedra Beach.
Kevin A. McIntyre is the inventor of patents US10744796 and US11254142 and founder of KMX Research LLC, Greenville, South Carolina. kmxresearch.com
