Guidestar Annual Learning Conference: Donor Edge

Innovation Lab for Community Foundations

As Effective Communicators, Brand Builders, and Knowledge Connectors through Shared Data

Facilitator: Beth Kanter, Trainer, Speaker, and Author

GuideStar Annual Learning Conference: Donor Edge – May 2014

Innovation: a new idea, device, or method; the act or process of introducing new ideas, services, programs or methods

HOW?

HOW?

Human-Centered Design

The discipline of developing solutions in the service of people

Human Centered DesignBehaviors

• Engagement with people• Iteration• Interdisciplinary collaboration

It isn’t …

• Something entirely new• A one-shot deal• A one-size-fits-all development process

Reduces overall development costs and mitigates the riskof big failure

• Helps organizations get the right solution, faster• Equips you to tame highly complex problems• Promotes collaboration and problem solving• Provides teams a framework for repeatable innovation

• Leave the room with some new ideas about how to improve communications, or knowledge sharing with shared data.

AgendaOUTCOMES

• Interactive• Co-Learning• Everyone is a designer

FRAMING

Innovation Lab

Overview

CF Presentations/Active Listening• Sacramento • New Haven

Concept Map/Discussion

Defining the Problem

Brainstorming Solutions

Team Presentations

• How can community foundations effectively communicate to nonprofits, donors, prospective donors and community leaders about the value of shared data?

• How can community foundations become the acknowledged community knowledge connector or philanthropic portal using shared data?

Problem Statements

• Use the worksheet to write down notes during the presentation

• What struck you? What have you tried? What is new?

Getting from “Here” to “There”DonorEdge (GivingEdge):

Data, Disruption, Dilemmas, and Destiny

* Pending minor credit card adjustments (i.e. refunds)

Destiny: How GivingEdge Will Take Us “There”

Our Vision for The GivingEdge (GE)

Establish the foundation as a learning/knowledge center GivingEdge goals

- Greater transparency among nonprofits- Higher donor engagement through GE- Increased individual giving- Common grant application

Holy Grail: Lift the nonprofit sector:

Social media Donor engagement Clarity in mission

Financial literacy Strong boards Marketing

Collaboration

Dilemmas: What we face now

Internal Time Incorporating technology as a backbone tool

- when you lead with paper Internal practices of processes (finance, grants

processing and management…) Staff capacity Piloting, testing, retesting, exploration - time Trying new things, entrpreneurial Data rich in quantity but data poor in quality

- Does the tech pipeline (the input) produce quality and usable data (the output)? Cost and budgeting Priority

Dilemmas: What we face now

External Competing funder tech tools (can there be a “common

app” a la college application?) - Burden for NPOs

Vendor constraints Communicating data bites in sound bites to traditional

and social media Changing landscape of giving Collaboration among funders: how is this branded? Nonprofit sector woes and capacity

- Understanding numbers- Perceived exposure- Sharing knowledge- Permission to inspire with what works

Disruption: What we needed to do

Have a vision: - DonorEdge as the facilitating tool that sticks

Push – be the one Take the shots Call the question

- Financials- Boards- Capacity

Build your allies - Funders, donors, nonprofits

Establish community leadership

Data: The backbone

Using data to Capitalize on what you have – CFs have

obsessive tons of internal data Start, set, and direct the external

conversation Baby-steps: transform with just a few

NPOs to get to the sector, 10% a success Learn and do, reflect and look at selves, a

la Guidestar

Data: SRCF data points

Founded 1983 Assets: $119M (March 2014) Our region: Sacramento, Yolo, Placer, and El

Dorado Staffing: 13 FTE Impact: homelessness, arts, youth (education),

raising philanthropy (GiveLocalNow) Transitions: new CEO, embarking on strategic

plan, Day of Giving outcomes, visibility, growing staff

GivingEdge: 400+ profiles

THANK YOU

[Your community foundation name/logo]

Thank You

ROSE, BUD, THORN: Understanding Method (Problem Framing)

• Use the worksheet to write down notes during the presentation

• What struck you? What have you tried? What is new?

Becoming a community knowledge hub

The Community Foundation for

Greater New Haven• Increase the amount of and impact of

Community Philanthropy in Greater New Haven.• Founded in 1928• Current Assets $420+ Million• 40% of gifts come from bequests/planned giving• 34 FTEs (includes leadership initiatives)• Serve twenty town region with 600,000 plus

population• Affiliate-Valley Community Foundation

Leadership Activities & Investments

• New Haven Promise– Modeled after Pittsburgh Promise– Collaboration between TCF, City of New Haven and Yale University– TCF investment is $500K of unrestricted funds per year voted on

each year• New Haven Healthy Start

– Over 20 year history with TCF– Federally funded Maternal and Child Health Program focused on

improving birth outcomes• Community Fund for Women and Girls• Progreso Latino Fund• ConnCAT- Bill Strickland’s Manchester Bidwell -$250k/year• Prisoner Re-entry and Immigration Integration

Community Knowledge Goals of The Community Foundation

• To enhance the value and the impact of The Foundation’s grantmaking, stewardship, donor service and development work;

• To achieve greater use of The Foundation’s community knowledge by donors and others in the community;

• To strengthen local nonprofits through their use of The Foundation’s community knowledge tools;

• To enhance the brand, the recognition, and the leadership profile of The Foundation; and

• To increase giving to The Foundation and local giving generally.

Target Audience for Community Knowledge

• Internal Staff & Board• Nonprofits• Current Donors• Potential Donors• Community

**Challenge is prioritizing audiences and balancing the different needs of each audience segment-What is the best way for them to receive information and eventually act as a result of that information?

Messaging and Tactics• giveGreater.org® started as the centerpiece for this

community knowledge work-local resource for knowledge and giving

• The Great Give® as annual giving campaign-wealth of knowledge on donors

• Learn section on website– Eight issue areas– Issue briefs– Articles and news– Linked to giveGreagter.org

• Publications• Convenings- large and small• Internal Reports• Community Breakfasts

What’s Working• Community and Strategies and Knowledge Committee of

the Board of Directors• A variety mediums used but consistent message is critical

– newsletters, (hardcopy and electronic)– Annual Report (hardcopy and electronic)– giveGreater.org, The Great Give, website, Donor Central– Social media

• Partnerships are critical- GuideStar, Nonprofit Finance Fund, DataHaven, CT. Voices for Children, OJP, Kimbia

• Integration into grants process and capacity building**Challenge is to manage all of the different mediums with small communications staff**Challenge is managing relationships with partners when there are many layers to the relationship-vendor, grantee, contractor

Evaluation• 80% of our donors report doing research on a nonprofit

before making a gift– 60% report using giveGreater.org for that research

• The Foundation’s knowledge of local nonprofits is rated 6.1 on a scale of 1-7 (ranging from “not at all helpful” to “extremely helpful”) and is the fourth most valued aspect of the Foundation among 14 aspects.

• New Giving is steady at about 40%• Site traffic for all knowledge resources has been steadily

increasing• giveGreater.org and The Great Give are TCF’s largest

source of new contacts with over 50% of current mailing list coming from these sources- Cultivation System.

**Challenge is that some of this stuff simply cannot be measured while some will take generations to measure impact.

Overcoming Challenges• Prioritizing audiences and balancing the different needs of

each audience segment-What is the best way for them to receive information and eventually act as a result of that information?

• Managing all of the different mediums with a small communications staff

• Managing relationships with partners when there are many layers to the relationship-vendor, grantee, contractor

• Some of this stuff simply cannot be measured while some will take generations to measure the impact

• Biggest challenge is determining how to best re-balance giveGreater.org as a year-round knowledge tool with The Great Give which is primarily a once a year giving tool to promote philanthropy

Continuous Improvement

• Continually assess and reassess• Be consistent is seeking feedback from your

constituents• Re-evaluate your original goals- do they still hold

true?• Continue to take risks and try new things• Look at what your peers are doing- don’t

reinvent the wheel• Work across departments• Find good partners

ROSE, BUD, THORN: Understanding Method (Problem Framing)

Affinity Cluster

• Create concept map on the wall

• Group discussion on themes

Concept Map (Patterns and Group Understanding)

• How can community foundations effectively communicate to nonprofits, donors, prospective donors and community leaders about the value of shared data?

• How can community foundations become the acknowledged community knowledge connector or philanthropic portal using shared data?

Problem Statements

Abstraction Laddering)

• How can community foundations effectively communicate to nonprofits, donors, prospective donors and community leaders about the value of shared data?

• How can community foundations become the acknowledged community knowledge connector or philanthropic portal using shared data?

Problem Statements

Work in small groups Pick one of the statements Ladder it up and Ladder it Down Pick the best problem statement Write on large sticky note Vote

Visualize the Vote!

Round Robin: Group Concept Ideation)

• Sometimes the collective voice of several speaks more powerfully than a single voice alone.

• Round Robin allows for the generation of fresh ideas by providing a format for group authorship.

• As an idea is passed around from person to person, it can grow and change in unexpected ways and uncover original ideas

• Participants inherit and build up on each other’s ideas.

• Even if idea seems crazy or impossible, it might contain the seed of something great

• The result is that the idea is bigger than one person could imagine on their own

ROTATION #1

ROTATION #2

How can community foundations effectively communicate to potential partners about the value of shared data to influence behavior that will advance community-wide goals?

Team Presentations: Making and Prototyping: Synthesis

You have 20 minutes to review and synthesize an idea from the ideas captured during the last exercise. Your team should pick one or combine elements from different ones. You will use markers and poster paper to create a visual for your presentation. Remember, you don’t have to the world’s best artist, just convey a meaningful representation of your ideas. Even stick figures and primitive drawings can help you present the possibilities.

Use one of these formats:

• Storyboarding• Concept Poster• Magazine Cover

Storyboarding

• Draft the main story line of your idea – beginning, middle, and end. Use images.

• Put a descriptive phrase for each box.

• Determine the characters and the setting and the future scenario.

Concept Poster

Magazine Cover

Visualize the Vote!

Think and Write: What is your take away – one thing that you can put into practice? Raffle