Healthy communities look to the future

Are you facing the sun, are you making a difference to the long term future of your community?

It’s true.  We all want to live in healthy communities supporting healthy, effective nonprofit organizations in concert with a deep spirit of extraordinary philanthropy. Truly, don't we all want that for our communities, our families, our friends and neighbors?

There is one way to lead those efforts in your community -- establish endowment funds to support your community. I imagine you haven't thought of it just that way, but an endowment fund can strengthen local groups and efforts, strengthen individual nonprofit organizations, or even provide college scholarships. And it's easy through the North Carolina Community Foundation network. We lend our expertise, our fund management and our understanding of local needs and assessment to make your philanthropic dreams come true.

Can it really be that simple to establish an endowment fund? Indeed, we make it our job to help you realize your dreams for others in your community. Can you imagine making strategic grants to your local nonprofit organizations, or sending students to college on scholarships? While you are thinking about it, about your community, the needs in your community think about this. Last year through our network of 66 counties, we provided $882,200 in scholarships and educational grants.  Those scholarships are among grants totaling $4.6 million that NCCF has awarded to nonprofits across North Carolina in the past fiscal year 2009-2010. And we will award scholarships and make grants this year, next year and the year after. And it's all because someone, just like you, had an idea about how to help his or her community.

Recently we worked with a group of high school graduates to establish a scholarship in memory of a former high school — to date 37 of 46 graduating classes have financially supported the scholarship. Or how about the library that established an endowment fund to permanently support its operations and special programs?  There also was the donor who was deeply concerned about educating children and rural needs and made a bequest to establish a fund to support those local needs.  Those are just a few examples of new funds established in the past several months — those folks were realizing dreams, strengthening their communities and helping the people in their communities.  It all started with one person and one idea.

You too can be the catalyst in your community.  Your ideas can make a difference.  Give me a call, send me an email or let's just blog!

NCCF among top in USA for number of grants; gift size has room to grow

A recently released a report offers some new ways to benchmark the work of community foundations. Traditionally, asset size has been one of the frequently utilized measurements.  Here at NCCF we know that asset size only tells one part of the story -- and use additional ways to illustrate and measure our community impact and value.

There are more than 700 community foundations across the country, and in the aforementioned report (“Benchmarking Beyond Asset Size: New Top 100 List for Community Foundations” compiled by FSG Social Impact Advisors), survey participants were ranked based on three areas -- Most Active Grantmakers; Most Gifts Per Capita; and Most Activity.

We were not surprised to see North Carolina Community Foundation ranked number 25 nationally in terms of total number of gifts and grants processed annually.  In 2009 we processed more than 7,000 (!) gifts and grants -- clear evidence of the generosity of North Carolinians.  This is good news.

There is another side to this coin, however. The other information provided indicates that our average transaction size is low in comparison to many of the other foundations on this list. 

This is a snapshot of what is both our biggest opportunity as well as our biggest challenge.  We work to ensure that every philanthropic-minded person in a community is inspired to make lasting and meaningful contributions. Our unique affiliate structure provides a number of different ways that donations of any size can make a difference. Our mission calls for us to ensure that philanthropy is accessible to all. And we have certainly seen the very big impact that even small gifts can have – especially in a recessionary economy.

Our challenge is to ensure that we continue to grow: our value, our impact, our reach and our gifts.

Thank you for working with us to make a difference in your communities.

The roller-coaster ride continues...

Though the previous four quarterly fund statements showed positive returns, with current volatile financial markets and fragile global economies, we could have predicted a down second quarter. Second quarter 2010 fund statements, which should be out by August 15^th, will show an overall decline of 6 to 7%.  During the same period, Dow Industrials shed 10% and the broad market S&P 500 dropped almost 12%, illustrating the benefit of our diverse and moderate asset allocation. The old Wall Street adage, “Buy the rumor, sell the news” was certainly evident during the quarter.  First, contagion fears around Europe’s sovereign debt issues and second, softer-than-expected economic results pushed investors into more defensive positions, Treasuries and gold.

On corporate earnings announcements, third quarter 2011 has generally started out positive. However continuing anemic unemployment, housing travails and a cautious consumer will sustain the current uncertainty. Though some recent economic results have been soft, the recovery continues, and there appears little support for a double-dip recession.  Stocks do look attractive for long-term investors, with the S&P 500 trading at a reasonable price/earnings ratio of 12 to 13 versus a historical average around 16. And opportunities may avail themselves in certain equity styles (U.S. large-cap), industry sectors (industrials, consumer and utilities) and consistent dividend paying names. Many economists have trimmed expected economic growth for the remainder of year, yet minimal inflation pressure, continuing accommodative monetary policy and healthy corporate balance sheets could support a year-end rally in equities. 

Perhaps another old Wall Street adage will ring true this year, “Sell in May, return again after Labor Day.”

Travels with Mr. Narron

I am on the road a lot, and many times I find myself traveling alone -- but recently I got in some extensive road miles with our board chairman, James W. Narron.  We traveled to northwestern North Carolina, where he spoke to a group of community leaders in Lenoir over lunch at the Bernhardt Furniture plant.  We then attended the Unifour Foundation grants celebration in Hickory, where more than $214,000 was awarded to 27 local nonprofits.  The next day he spoke to a group of professional advisors about community foundations and charitable giving.  The following week we were in Wilmington, meeting with the local affiliate board of our newest affiliate, the New Hanover County Community Foundation and then attending a donor reception at the lovely home of Margaret and Ned Barclay.

Spending time with Mr. Narron always reminds me of how lucky we are to have him at the helm of this organization.  His professional experience, his passion for philanthropy and his community involvement provide an amazing combination.  When I have the opportunity to introduce him, I often share a little bit of his extensive professional background and the skills and talents he brings to our work.  But what I usually say is that he is a good and kind person, who cares about the future of our communities.   

We are privileged to have him lead our work and so appreciate the time he takes from his real job and his family to devote to NCCF.

Take time to celebrate -- it's a good thing!

Helping affiliates celebrate their first decade of service to their communities has been a fun, rewarding effort. It's an important milestone and a great opportunity to reach out and make many connections. Many new board members don’t know the early history about their affiliates. Some are newcomers to their communities and are eager to learn more about their new home regions. Founding board members often don’t have details about their affiliates today.  So, bring everyone together, add in our fund-holders and grantees and you have a room full of energy and stories. Oh my, what stories! (Did I tell you how we really got that fund started?)

Think back 10 years and in the northeast area, we have been through two major hurricane impacts and disaster relief grants events. We have moved from film to digital cameras. Our communications have expanded from mail to websites, high speed internet, Facebook, Twitter and more. We have involved so many more women in philanthropy and have established many new funds for different charitable purposes. It is worth remembering that all of this was started with the beginning number of ‘0’.

All this adds up to a celebration of talents, time and treasures! Never mind the old photos showing our bad hair days and old styles. Look at the people in those photos; they are the ones who made it all happen. They are the heroes and heroines of our communities. They are the ones who started the journey for many others to follow, creating new opportunities that benefit people, nonprofits and the whole community.

So take time to celebrate the journey, pick up a glass and make a toast to those who contributed so much to our communities. Then, pass around the chocolates and take time to tell the stories.

They don't care how you did it in Cleveland

Jennifer and I were talking recently about my now 18-month-old transition from working in the business world to the nonprofit sector. (Jennifer is the NCCF’s CEO and my boss, so the conversation wasn’t entirely academic.)

I told her how different it is to be sitting on the “inside” of the Foundation. Even though the NCCF had been a client for most of the nearly five years I did consulting, and the corporation where I practically grew up has had more than a nodding relationship to this place – it’s not quite what I expected.

I’m not a newbie to the sector. I’ve been on my share of nonprofit boards and volunteered widely in the community. I advised many other nonprofit clients while a consultant. But it’s not until I came on board full-time at the NCCF that I realized that I am not in Kansas anymore.

That is not to say I thought I was in Oz. This is a blog, so to be any good it has to be honest. I’m not going tell you that I initially thought the differences were all good.

For example: The “just do it” mentality that has informed my frame of reference during most of my adult working life did not appear as strong here. And at first this drove me crazy. Why do some things take so long, I wondered? Why don’t we just do it?

As my tenure grew, I began to realize that sometimes it made absolutely no sense to just do it. That taking a wait-and-see approach on some initiatives saved money or avoided costly mistakes. Or that limited resources combined with a hard-working staff that wears many hats could not possibly just do one more thing at this very moment.

I always liked my new team, but I’ve really begun to appreciate them. Some, like me, came from a business environment and are here because they’re passionate about our work. Some have grown up in this world so are nonprofit pros who teach me something new every single day. That is exciting to me.

When I was on “the other side” and sitting on nonprofit boards, I remember thinking that some could have benefitted from a “business” approach to running their organizations. Yikes! I hope I wasn’t ever smug enough to say it out loud!

A column on the Blue Avocado site (that NCCF colleague Patricia recently blogged about) reminds us that many corporate “best practices” were actually born in the nonprofit world. The very first corporations were actually nonprofit organizations that were focused on communities and enjoyed participatory management. And more recently: many Sarbanes-Oxley reforms were standard operating procedures in the nonprofit world long before Enron necessitated these rules for corporate America.

So the next time you hear a business person on your board suggest that your nonprofit focus on metrics or accountabilities, remember my own conversion and realize: there’s hope! And if you’re a corporate-type who harbors any of these obnoxious tendencies, stop yourself because you know not what you say.

Passages and saying good-bye

This has been a big week, full of significant passages for me personally and for the North Carolina Community Foundation.  It is the end of the year and graduation time for many.  Summer is just around the corner.  Maybe it is just because I had a birthday, it seems that many things are in flux and changing and moving forward too quickly! 

Here at the NCCF we celebrated and bid adieu to our colleague, Carrie Gray, who worked with us for the past four and half years, first as a regional associate for the Northern Piedmont Region and most recently as our Director of Donor Engagement.  Carrie and her family are moving to Seattle, Washington.   What an adventure, and we wish them well.

Carrie has been an inspiration, a passionate advocate of philanthropy and has helped lead many new initiatives at the Foundation.  She will be missed. 

We hope Seattle is ready for her spark!

Being There

Friends and co-workers know me for a white-knuckle flier.  Like Erica Jong’s character in Fear of Flying, I’m convinced the only thing keeping the plane aloft is the energy borne of my constant state of terror.

Despite my fear, I have often joked that our statewide foundation should purchase a helicopter.  Why?  I believe strongly in the power of “being there.”  Of meeting face to face.  In my book, there is simply no substitute for that personal connection. 

At the North Carolina Community Foundation, our statewide scope means we travel a lot.  There’s nothing like a day trip from Raleigh to Sylva and back to remind one that it’s a BIG state.  And like any other business in these times of downsized budgets, we are constantly seeking ways to be more efficient with our travel dollars. 

Conference calls, webinars, e-mails, Skype – technology has made it possible to connect in so many different ways and formats.  And don’t get me wrong -- these new tools offer quick, powerful and often low-cost ways to communicate.   They have revolutionized our ability to contact more people, in more ways and more often.

But what’s lost here?  Whether it’s engaging a donor, conducting a training session, or presenting to a community organization, there is simply nothing more powerful than the real-life, real-time, person-to-person interaction. 

In the realm of charitable giving, it’s a truism that donors give more when asked in person.  A recent study conducted by Indiana University found that “donors who were asked to give in person by someone they knew donated 19% more when compared with telephone, mail or e-mail requests.”  Fundraising author Laura Fredericks concurs, noting that “it is important that you do your asks of individuals in person.  People give to people; they do not give to paper.” (The Ask, 2006)

To paraphrase a political slogan, “It’s the relationship, stupid.”  And building these demands personal, in-the-flesh engagement. 

To illustrate, I recently held the hand of a 100-year-old donor as she described her father’s artwork and the fund she has established for the museum wherein it is displayed.  Both eyesight and hearing have failed her, and simply being there to listen was my only way of reaching her.  Her amazing and profoundly touching stories will enliven our work with this fund for many years to come. 

There’s simply an immeasurable magic that happens in a face-to-face meeting.  Face to face, there is an exchange that illuminates, connects, inspires, deepens understanding and builds trust.  In person, we gain and transmit passion, persuade and communicate our message in the most powerful way possible. 

In a larger sense, it’s our very “being there” that distinguishes us from the plain commercial charities.  We maintain that our core role is to grow philanthropy among North Carolina’s communities.  And especially in our rural context, that requires a frequent, on-the-ground presence.  Folks want to see the cut of our jib, and to measure our ability to relate to the culture, needs and customs of their community.  For a community foundation, being available, visible and accessible are tacit responsibilities that go with the very name.  Engaging personally with others, we swap experiences and insights, stimulate learning and problem-solving, and discover shared values.   

It’s tempting, of course, to forego all the trouble.  Getting from place to place requires energy, time and money.  Yes, I know.  Dollars.  And the “new economy” requires that we strike a practical balance.  Can we craft a complete endowment agreement by e-mail?  Well, sure.  But funds so established threaten to become mere transactions.  The human element that makes our work so compelling and powerful is lost.  We miss the stories, the vitality, the rich history.  We fail to capture the motivations behind the gift.  In short, we ourselves risk becoming what one writer dubbed “passive salesmen for charity.”

And so we continue to slip on our driving mocs and hit the road.  Meeting our donors face to face, convening in person with local boards and non-profits, and learning first-hand their needs, challenges and opportunities   For those of us who believe strongly that THIS is what it means to be a true community foundation, anything less is merely a cold call.

Surf's up! Ride this wave of information

Surfing has become a year-round sport here in southeastern North Carolina, and if the water is big I guarantee that there will be several dedicated – or at least slightly crazy – people bobbing offshore waiting for the perfect wave regardless of rain, freezing temperatures or gloomy clouds.

Although I love the ocean, my own attempts to hang ten ranged from comical to pathetic, so I stick close to shore and enjoy the show from a comfy stool at a local oceanside tiki bar.  I get my surfing thrills from the Internet now, and nothing makes me happier than discovering sites that are entertaining, informative and, if you are really lucky, funny.

As a development officer with the Foundation, I advise our donors and affiliate board members on both making grants to address community needs and raising money for their endowment funds, so I am constantly on the hunt for both practical information and stories that can inspire and delight.  I’m always sending my colleagues and board members links to new blogs and sites, although I confess that I never give some of them a second look.

However, two sites that never fail the “inspire and delight” test are SOFII and Blue Avocado.  No, SOFII is not about furniture – it is an acronym for Showcase of Fundraising Innovation and Inspiration (www.sofii.org). 

SOFII “seeks to provide those who raise funds for charities or for charitable purposes, wherever they are, with a comprehensive, easily accessible archive of the best creative fundraising from around the world.”  The site, which is based in England, introduced me to ITIHAS (I Think I Have A Solution), a registered trust in India.  Its goal - “to accelerate social change by helping nonprofit organisations to plan core functions and programme implementation at the grassroots level” – which mirrors the NC Community Foundation’s own mission of building nonprofit capacity here at home. 

Another great idea from the country is Give India’s Joy of Giving Week, a nationwide initiative that involved nonprofit organizations, corporations, celebrities and citizens in raising awareness of community needs and the power of philanthropy.  Check it out at www.joyofgivingweek.org.  Wouldn’t it be great if we could inspire a Joy of Giving Week right here in North Carolina?  SOFII also guided me to Greenpeace’s provocative beer mat campaign to encourage planned giving, which demonstrates how a simple message can have great power.

Blue Avocado (www.blueavocado.org) is a periodic newsletter tailored for nonprofit staff and volunteers.  Articles range from the practical – “Ten Quick Ways to Invigorate Board Meetings,” to its “3 Minute Vacation” series with links to interesting music and videos.  Who knew there was a stand-up comedian who can make economics fun? (www.standupeconomist.com) 

Both of these sites illustrate the amazing creativity and boundless enthusiasm of the nonprofit community both here and abroad as we work together to improve lives.

Talking about philanthropy

I was recently travelling with my family when my 11-year old daughter leaned over in her seat and said, “Mom, read this story.”  As I began to read about a family who became friends with a man they were once apprehensive to get to know, I wondered: “Where is this going?”  The article went on to explain that the man had faced significant financial hardships and often came to their door looking for work.  Over several months the family befriended the man and gave him odd jobs in order to earn money.  At one point in the relationship, the family had cleaned out their closets and found what they thought would be suitable clothes for the man, leaving them on their doorstep for him.  The story concludes by one of the family members asking the man if he had found the clothes they had left, and he responded that he was ever so grateful.  As the teenage boy began to fill with pride that his family had helped the man, he continued by saying that he was so grateful for the opportunity to help someone less fortunate than himself.

I finished reading the story and looked at Julianne, who smiled at me and said, “Mom, that man is a philanthropist.”  Indeed that man is a philanthropist, but that is not what struck me the most about this moment with my daughter. 

Julianne and I have been talking about giving back and the role philanthropy plays in the life of a community ever since she was little, but never had she identified a philanthropist without prompting.   This conversation reaffirmed my commitment and belief that it is our role as moms, dads, friends, aunts, uncles, grandparents and just plain adult allies to educate our young people about philanthropy and the power it has in forging partnerships, strengthening communities, breaking down barriers and engaging with others. 

Our discussions about philanthropy can’t occur just once – they need to be on-going and deliberate.  Let’s think about those conversations as melting-pot talks and be inclusive when we speak of philanthropy.  I know I can do more just as you know you can do more, but if each of us is willing to start a conversation with a young person and then work to increase his or her engagement in the community; one day we’ll be in the midst of a community of givers who know no other way of life.  It will be that day that we’ll know we have made a difference, because we took the time to share with someone younger than ourselves the power of philanthropy.