BUILDING YOUR PEOPLE PIPELINE

Banff Compass

May 25, 2015

Today’s discussionBUILDING YOUR PEOPLE PIPELINE: Applying a Fundraising Relationship-Building Model to Employee Recruitment & Retention

•Cultivation, stewardship, acquisition, retention – these are common words and actions in fundraising. •Staffing matters are one of the top issues keeping not-for-profit leaders awake at night. •How you can adapt fundraising best practices in order to support your staff recruitment and retention?

About us

• Christoph Clodius, Vice-President, Search Practice

• Kathy Greenwood, Senior Vice-President

• And you?

Start with “Why?”• Why do we want to cultivate, steward, acquire, and retain

donors, alumni, volunteers, members or participants?• If we apply best practices, what is the result of our efforts?

Some initial thoughts:• Easier and cheaper to retain than acquire• Longer term relationships = deeper relationships = greater

commitment = often results in bigger gifts and other benefits to the organization

• Referrals (new members, donors, participants, volunteers)• Lower costs of doing business = better ROI or COFR

Best practice activities• What are best practice activities in identification,

cultivation, stewardship, acquisition, retention?• How do you apply these to donors, stakeholders, and

volunteers?

Activity: • Your table will be assigned a ‘category’• Take 5 mins to brainstorm best practices for your category• A table rep will take 1-2 mins to summarize for the room

Best practice review• Those who have an interest in your cause are

more likely to give or get involved• Aligning donor interest to organizational mission and needs is the

basic premise of good prospect research

• How does this relate to your people pipeline?• Where can you find people who are already interested or involved in

your cause?• Mining your database of donors or alumni using position title or employer• Using Linked In for the same purpose• Look online for people who “like” you or “support” you publically• Ask all of the above, plus your current staff, for their referrals and suggestions

Best practice review• A lapsed donor is more likely to give than

someone who has never given• They likely already have interest in your organization• Finding out why they are lapsed is the key

• How does this relate to your people pipeline?• Are there former employees who might be interested in becoming

employees again?• Finding out why they left is very much the key – important to

understand this before approaching, where possible. Especially relates to the ‘stars who got away’, and who have progressed through their careers

• Change in leadership can often be a key factor in coming back

Best practice review• Asking someone for help or advice is often

more effective than asking them only for money • When people are asked for advice or help, they begin to get

engaged in the organization; they become more aware of what you’re trying to achieve, and more interested in the outcomes

• How does this relate to your people pipeline?• How can you engage your ‘family’ in building your people pipeline?• How can this engagement lead to their own interest in employment?

Or to heightened volunteering? Or increased giving?

Best practice review• What does it mean to be “donor-driven”?

• The dreams and excitement of donors impact how funds are raised, expended, and what the resulting outputs can be.

• How does this relate to your people pipeline?• Treat individual as such• Listen to their needs, wants, and goals• Do you have performance reviews? Succession plans? Pro-D

plans?

Best practice review• Respond to every volunteer

• If they put their hand up, get them engaged in a meaningful way

• How does this relate to your people pipeline?• Respond to all applicants for all positions• Invite them to become volunteers, members, participants, donors• Keep their information on file; they may not be suitable for this job

right now, but what about in future, or for another job?• People remember how they were treated when they applied for a job;

often a very emotional time for people (excitement or stressful), and how you treat people may actually demonstrate to the community how you live out your mission as an organization

Best practice review• Relationships matter

• People give to people• Major Gift fundraising can be a long-term process

• How does this relate to your people pipeline?• Keep your long-term needs in mind, and future possible employees• Candidates will be drawn more by the people than the “words”• What do you think retains and attracts good people?

Best practice review• Donors want to know what difference their gifts

have made • Good stewardship depends on an outcomes focus. Report back,

thank (without perceived wastefulness) and continue to engage.• In turn leads to a future gift.

• How does this relate to your people pipeline?• Staff need to know how they will be evaluated, and give them

feedback. • Measurable outcomes.• Encourage growth – pro-D, success plans, performance plans.

Best practice review• The best future donor is a current donor

• It is much less costly to retain a current donor than to spend time and money to seek a new donor

• How does this relate to your people pipeline?• The best future employee is a current employee

• Current employees are usually mission-aligned and ‘fit’ the culture• The learning curve for a current employee may be less than for someone outside

the organization

• Who already works for your organization who might have the right aptitude and attitude to learn a new job?

• What other roles/departments have similar activities or goals? (e.g. student recruitment is similar to fundraising, hospitality roles may be similar to event roles)

• “Tap’ someone who might not naturally see themselves in a role• Can you ‘second’ them to the new job, to allow them to try it out? (And hold their

old job for job security and peace of mind?)

The need to train….

Leadership spending

Best practice review• A critical database analysis can give valuable

donor insight• Predictive modelling can help you focus your prospecting efforts on

those most likely to give to you.

• How does this relate to your people pipeline?• The exit interview is reactive• Are you proactively surveying your staff to see why they stay?• An in-depth analysis may bring some surprising results – and cause

you to consider your recruitment modelling to “predict” who might be most at risk for leaving.

Some additional thoughts• Do you look through resumes submitted in past? And use Linked In to

see where these people are now, and what they’ve accomplished since they applied?

• Don’t just think about fundraisers…you can use your contacts to find people for all sorts of positions in your organization

• Think about an advisory board of professionals for various roles/programs – which could be a great way to engage people

• Could you have an ‘alumni’ group for past employees?• What about a newsletter for former and future employees? What about

a Facebook page? A Linked In group?• Are there academic programs nearby (or at your institution) that align to

the roles you are trying to fill? • Can you partner with these programs, or use to gain visibility?

• Co-op programs, internships, volunteer speaking, etc.

Conclusions..

• Thank you!

• What will you do differently?

Keep in touch!

Christoph Clodius, VP, Search Practice

cclodius@kciphilanthropy.com; Cell: 604-315-5629

Kathy Greenwood, Senior Vice President

kgreenwood@kciphilanthropy.com; Cell: 403-370-6313

KCI (Ketchum Canada Inc.)

www.kciphilanthropy.com