This is the first in a series of posts on the future of the social sector. Let me know what you think.

Strengthening the revenue line is the daily struggle of most nonprofit executives. We host galas, write 30 page grant applications, and try to identify our next major donor but what if the key to giving your nonprofit stronger financial viability was hiding right in your storage closet?

Lisa Gansky, the pioneering author of “The Mesh: Why the Future of Business is Sharing” , says that Mesh companies create, share and use social media, wireless networks, and data crunched from every available source to provide people with goods and services at the exact moment they need them, without the burden and expense of owning them outright. Gansky reveals how there is real money to be made and trusted brands and strong communities to be built in helping your customers buy less but use more.

One of the darling companies of the mesh movement is Zipcar. By making it easier and affordable to have access to a car, only when you need it, Zipcar is lessening each participants’ environmental impact and the expense of car ownership.

So what does that mean for nonprofits? You have an office full of equipment and tools that you are not using at this very moment but will need to have at some future time. For example:

-The extra laptop that the summer intern uses

-The projector that is only used for the monthly board meetings

-Nametags for your yearly gala

-Reflective vests and traffic cones for your annual walk/run

What if that equipment becomes a monthly revenue item for your nonprofit by renting it out through a company like Zilok? Through Zilok you can post your equipment for rent and renters can browse listings and schedule and pay for rentals from you, a definite benefit for time-strapped nonprofits.

Nonprofits have a built in network of supporters like donors, volunteers, clients, or nonprofits you collaborate with. You could advertise your available equipment to these supporters through your regular mailing list or social media presence. On a site like Zilok you can also describe in your listing that the rental fee will support the mission of your organization, making you more marketable to values-driven consumers are who want to reward socially conscious businesses with their purchases.

Tools to put you on the leading edge of this trend:

Zilok- a centralized online rental marketplace. Zilok allows anyone, whether individuals or professionals, to rent or offer for rent anything in a few clicks. They provide both individuals & professionals a platform to offer in seconds any item for rent, so people have a quick and convenient access to anything they could possibly need on occasion, for rent.

Craigslist- Free local classifieds and forums – community moderated.

SnapGoods-SnapGoods connects people so that they can rent or borrow gear from within their network or neighborhood.

I am a constant critic of many philanthropy and nonprofit practices. My husband likes to say “give them a break, they are trying to do something nice.” My personal motto is “do good better”, so it is impossible for me to “give them a break”. But I have noticed that more and more of us are getting stuck on the better part and are ignoring the do good part. This was recently highlighted for me when I was listening to Tiny Spark on NPR. Tiny Spark is a new effort to ignite a debate about the business of doing good. Their latest podcast is about Tom’s Shoes and the controversy about who received the shoes. The reporter seemed disappointed that Tom’s distibute the shoes to children who already have a pair of shoes. My first thought was “so what?”. Kids can’t have two pairs of shoes? Last time I checked, Nike or Adidas was not giving a pair of shoes away for everyone that is sold and the Tom’s model feels like progress to me. It isn’t perfect, but it changes how we look at what is possible. By spending so much time and energy on gaps in new ways of doing good I think we discourage others from trying.

The other place where this has come to life for me is Invisible Children and the Kony controversey. My 12 year old daughter came home from school and asked me what I am doing to help the kids that Kony has kidnapped. This is not her regular conversation after school. This started a great discussion and opened up her ability to look beyond herself. It may not have been done perfectly but it started an important conversation about how we are all connected.

I am beginning to believe that there is a continuum of doing good and choosing inaction as we wait for perfection will get us no where.

What do you think?

I went to a meeting this week and was running a little late. I knew it would be a lunch gathering about a project that I lead but didn’t have a lot of other details. I was feeling pretty proud of myself for making it just on time when I slipped into my seat. I took a look at the program and was beyond surprised when I saw that I was the second speaker listed. A few years ago I would have broken into a stress sweat and hid in the bathroom waiting for them to go on without me. Instead I continued the great conversation I was having with my table mates and when they called my name I reminded myself to stick to 5 minutes and gave what I hope was an informative and friendly introduction to the program that I lead.

So the key to going from shock to ease in just a few minutes…preparation.  For programs that I may be asked to give an impromptu speech about, I have a 30 second, 5 minute, 15 minute, and thirty minute version that I am ready to do anytime. I also have speeches in the same lengths ready to talk about myself, my organization, my job, the Nonprofit Rockstar book and the future of philanthropy. It isn’t as overwhelming as it sounds. I often use the Beyond Bullet Points method to script the outline and the version can get longer as I add details and stories to my key points.

Being a prepared public speaker sets you apart professionally and decreases your need to hid in the bathroom in fear exponetially.

As you probably know I am a big fan of Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy (EPIP). EPIP is where I developed my professional network in the field and now I am the chair of EPIP’s national board. Our founding director, Rusty Stahl, will be stepping down in a few months and we are looking for someone amazing to increase the representation of young people in the field of philanthropy. If you are that person, get your resume in soon. If you are not that person, send this announcement to everyone in your network and help us find someone great.

Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy (EPIP) develops extraordinary new leaders to enhance organized philanthropy and its impact on communities. EPIP was founded in 2001 by a small group of young foundation professionals and individual donors who sought to work and learn with peers in order to transform philanthropy and confront generational issues, using a social justice lens.

EPIP seeks an Executive Director to lead the fulfillment of EPIP’s vision and mission in a truly creative, dynamic, and forward-thinking fashion. The Executive Director is the leader of the organization both publicly and inside the organization, and, as such, is at once a highly visible advocate for emerging professionals within the social sector and an effective project manager who ensures that the work of EPIP is done efficiently and well.

EPIP has retained The 360 Group of San Francisco to assist with this search. Please visit http://www.the360group.us/EPIP_ED_PD.pdf to view the complete position description, including detailed application instructions. No calls, please. To be considered, The 360 Group must receive applications no later than 5:00pm Pacific time on Thursday, April 5th, 2012.

There is some serious movement afoot in the philanthropic sector. For years there has been talk of a massive leadership transition as baby boomers begin to retire, this transition hasn’t happened for a lot of reasons (the economy and retirement investment returns being weak as the main culprits). But we are now starting to see the transition begin in the philanthropic sector.

Hiring a new CEO is one of the most important jobs a foundation board has. There is a another critical stakeholder when it comes to hiring the foundation CEO…grantees. Grantees are often looked at as the recipient of foundation good, rather than a consumer whose needs should be taken into account. Foundations can’t meet their missions without the critical work of nonprofits, so their voice should be an important one in the hiring process.

A group of nonprofit and organizations dedicated to the success of the nonprofit sector have written an open letter to the board of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation as they begin their search for a new CEO. The organizations have asked the board to select a CEO who:

-supports general operating grants for nonprofits

-understands the role that race plays in inequity

-supports high impact grantmaking through the support of advocacy and community organizing

-understands the limits of “strategic philanthropy” and will minimize the paperwork burden on nonprofits

I hope this kind of open communications brings the voice of a foundation’s most important partner, nonprofits, into a decision that will impact the future of the sector.

I am looking for a graduate student or nonprofit nerd/connoisseur to provide me with research on nonprofit and philanthropy trends. The topics will be provided and I would like the researcher to summarize the trend in 2-3 pages and provide a list of sources. I need between 5-10 hours a month of research time. For every 5 hours of research time that you provide, I will give you one hour of professional development coaching. More information about my coaching areas of expertise are at www.nonprofitrockstar.com.

The researcher can work virtually, so geographic location is not important. If you are interested, please send me an email at tristaharris (at) gmail (dot) com.

In this philanthropy job series I’ll cover that a program officer does. When I was a fundraiser and wanted to work in philanthropy, I thought that program officer’s had 5-10 organizations that they worked with over a number of years. I thought I’d learn about organizations inside and out and help them make the world a better place. What really happened is that I had more than a hundred organizations (current grantees, applicants, former organizations, and organizations doing similar work) that I needed to understand on the most basic level. Most of my time was spent telling great people and organizations that we would not be funding them and managing the avalanche of paperwork that followed those that we could fund. All of that being said, I think being a program officer is one of the most exciting and fulfilling jobs in the social sector.  There are three main phases of work for the program officer: Eyes & Ears, Brain & Heart, and Hands & Feet.

Eyes & Ears: This phase of work is filled with spending time in your community to develop relationships, doing informational calls with prospective grantees, and identifying organizations to encourage to apply during the grant process. The amount of time that you spend doing these things varies widely depending on your foundation. Some foundations are so understaffed that they don’t do this type of outreach. Other foundations may spend years on this type of work as they develop a grantmaking program.

 
Brain & Heart: This phase is where the big paperwork and analysis begins. In this phase you receive letters of inquiry and applications (depending on the foundation and the narrowness of its guidelines this could be a few dozen or hundreds of applications). Your role is to determine if the applications fit the guidelines and if the organization has the capacity to undertake the work that they have described. Later in the process you might do site visits, outside research, or interviews with community stakeholders. You will then write up a summary of the applications to the foundation’s board. In this phase you will give a lot of bad news. Many organizations won’t get funding and a good program officer learns how to give that bad news in a way that honors the work of the nonprofit and offers suggestion to improve the program or find a foundation where the work is a better fit.

 
Hands & Feet: This part of the work is about being an ambassador for that organization to your board and in the community. You are their voice in the board room (either verbally or written) and you are the person that needs to be able to answer any questions that the board has. If the organization is funded, you communicate any expectations that your foundation has (reports, outcomes, publicity) and help the organization navigate grant agreements, evaluation frameworks, or required convenings that your foundation hosts.  You can also connect those grantees with colleagues at other foundations that may be interested in their work.

I lay out this description of a program officer’s job not because I feel like this is how the grantee/grantor relationship should be but because I want you to know what you are getting into if you pursue a career in philanthropy. There is a lot of work to be done to reduce the amount of paperwork in foundations, increase foundation’s transparency and better train program officers and if you become a foundation staff member, I hope that you will take on those causes as seriously as you take on evaluating the work of nonprofits.

If you work as a program officer, what parts of your job do you love, which do you hate?

I’ve heard from many of my recruiter friends that January is a prime time for organizations to start searches because people often make New Year’s resoultions to get a new job. If you have a resolution to get a job in the philanthropic field, here are a few pieces of advice to help you on your journey:

Develop Expertise: Lots of foundations (especially community foundations or unstaffed foundations) need volunteers to help them make grantmaking decisions. Volunteer your services and build some expertise in grantmaking.  As Rosetta Thurman says “don’t volunteer for free“, get some new skills out of it.

Build a Strong Network: While you are volunteering, build your network. Use that foot in the door to attend philanthropy conferences or foundation briefings. I got my first volunteer opportunity in philanthropy by sneaking into a Joint Affinity Group meeting. A funder that I knew saw me there and asked me if I was interested in being on one of their grant review committees, that led to consulting work with that foundation, and then to a job there as a program officer. (Check out my post “So you wanna be a Program Officer” for more tips on how to get a job reviewing grants)

Brand Yourself: Different foundations have different brands, for example academic, community-focused, cutting edge, or stuffy. Find a foundation that aligns with your personal brand and make sure that your resume and cover letter highlight your brand.

Take the Leap: It is easy to psyc yourself out and not apply for your dream philanthropy job. Sometimes you have to suck it up and take a chance. If you want to make a difference through grantmaking, prepare and be willing to take the leap.