Terri Temkin
Founding principal of CoreStrategies for Nonprofits
CoreStrategies for Nonprofits is an international consulting firm based in Miami that provides counsel to nonprofits in the areas of board governance, planning, strategic thinking, fund development, public relations and community affairs. We also provide special services such as research and database-management systems analysis, clean-up and training.
How can charitable giving be improved?
Put the donor's interests and values first, showing them how they can live their values and realize their visions through participating in creating a new reality. Then, once they've given, keep them close. Show them that the money they donated is being used as they had hoped and is having the impact they desired. Let them feel part of the organizational family by sending frequent updates or invitations to special briefings. Focus on long-term, reliable donors, even if they haven't given "large" gifts in the past. They have demonstrated their caring for the organization and may be "moved up".
What can nonprofits do to improve their fundraising or operations?
Look at board responsibilities, fund development and PR/marketing as integrated functions, where decisions or actions aimed at increasing the impact of one actually takes the other two into consideration and where plans involve all three. Otherwise, different departments in the organization often find themselves headed in different, perhaps contradictory, directions.
What changes would you like to see in the charitable sector?
It is time to put community impact first. Too many organizations think it's about them -- a truth revealed in mission and vision statements. It's not. It's about the community. We need to bring the community into decision-making. At the very least, we need to make decisions with the vision and values front and center and an idea about what our criteria for success are. Also, we need to move away from "professional" boards and boards of affluence and influence and find boards that can help us meet our needs at the given time.
How has your organization adapted in response to the recession?
The first month we convened an international roundtable of consultants to discuss what they were seeing and recommending. We made both the written and audio transcripts available on our website, along with a two-page synopsis. We began working with our clients in different ways to keep costs down. And, we began helping our clients stay focused on mission, think creatively of new opportunities and take risks that would move them forward as others languished.
