Diversa

Imagine Canada launches CharityFocus

Ligia — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:10:47 +0000

Over the last couple of years, the media has written extensively on the issue of salaries in the Canadian charitable sector. So much so that Bill C-470 was presented which proposed new reporting requirements as well as giving the federal government the power to regulate compensation in the sector. Luckily, the bill died when the 2011 elections were called.

Despite the fact that anyone can access a charity’s T3010 Annual Declaration on the Canada Revenue Agency website, an organization’s financial information if simply not enough to paint a complete picture of the situation.

How can a donor know if the organization is having any impact in the community? After all, financial statements cannot prove sound management.

How can the public be assured that programs and services support the organization’s mission?

How can donors be assured that the charity is managed by top professionals?

How can Joe Average understand the organization’s financial statements? (let’s face it, most people don’t understand financial statements, right?)

In response to these questions, Imagine Canada took the lead and launched Charity Focus. Taking the T3010 Annual Declaration, the site presents all the sections of the Declaration in an easy and simple to read format.

For instance, the Summary page presents an easy to understand chart of revenues and expenses, area of operation and additional information that charities can add such as annual reports, previous financial statements and supplemental documents. The site even lets the organization connect its social networking sites.

The Financials tab offers pie charts of the charity’s financial information; the People tab presents compensation breakdown of top 10 compensated employees; the Fundraising tab shows what campaigns the organization run as well as revenues and the amount paid to the fundraiser; the International tab shows expenditures and activities abroad; and finally, the News tab will include links to articles mentioning the charity on Google.

The site even has a tool called Quick Prep to help charities complete the T3010!

This site has the potential to be a very good tool for educating the public and for promoting transparency within the charitable sector. Charities must get on board and start adding additional information because the more donors can understand the sector, the better we can build stronger relationships.

Go ahead, check out your charity’s record! I also want to take this opportunity to thank Imagine Canada for developing this tool … well done!

So what do you thing? Will you be using Charity Focus? What are your thoughts on this tool?

Your Asking Style

Ligia — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:12:00 +0000

Fundraising professional and author extraordinaire Andrea Kihlstedt is co-founder of Asking Matters. Andrea and Brian Saber have developed a fantastic online tool to assess your asking style. They believe that if everyone understand their fundraising style, they will be more comfortable asking for gifts and will have far greater success in raising funds, says their website.

This makes total sense to me. The more you know yourself, the better fundraiser you can be. So I did the test. It confirmed what I already knew but it also made some recommendations to make sure my “asks” are successful. According to Asking Matters, I’m an intuitive introvert which makes me a Kindred Spirit with Mission Controller as a secondary style.

Have you taken the test? What’s your asking style?

New Canadian Media Donation

Ligia — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:54:00 +0000

Statistics Canada recently released their annual statistics on charitable donors based on Canadian tax filers. Here are some of their findings:

Canadian tax filers claimed donations of just under $8.3 billion in 2010, up 6.5% from 2009.
At the same time, the number of donors increased 2.2 % to just over 5.7 million Canadians, but the average age of donors remains 53 – a figure that has remained relatively the same for the past decade.
In 2000, 22 % of donors were 35 to 44 compared with 17 % in 2009, which was mimicked closely in the tax-filer population of that age range falling from 24 % in 2000 to 17 per cent in 2009.
The national median donation was $260 in 2010, which was also $10 more than the median in 2009.

You can read more about Statistics Canada’s 2010 Charitable Donors Study here.

Job search in the charitable sector

Ligia — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:17:45 +0000

Looking for work in the charitable sector can be a daunting task. Over the last few years, I’ve had many people contact me asking for a job or asking for information on how to embark on a career in the nonprofit sector. One advice I always share is the following: make sure you absolutely LOVE what you do or else you’ll hate everything about the work and the sector.

But this post is not about that (but could be in the future). Before you start looking for work, I strongly recommend you create a LinkedIn account and start building your professional profile. While you’re at it, join some groups where you can connect with other professionals in the sector. Look for groups created by any of the professional associations or for charity groups.

When you’re ready, start looking for work in the nonprofit sector. Here are a few sites I recommend you monitor on a regular basis (note this is specific for Quebec although you’ll also find postings for all of Canada, the US and international posts):

Association of Fundraising Professionals – Quebec chapter

Association of Fundraising Professional – International Headquarters

Association des professionnels en gestion philanthropique (French only)

Canadian Association of Gift Planners

Charity Village

Association des fondations d’établissements de santé du Québec (French only)

Association for Healthcare Philanthropy

Careers United

Association québécoise des organismes de coopération internationale

Isarta

I also recommend you sign up to the Centre for Community Organizations’ (COCo) newsletter that is always full of useful information and job postings.

Fresh out of school or redirecting your career and you need some experience to beef up your resume? Volunteering is a wonderful way to gain valuable work experience, get a feel of the sector and help an organization. For volunteer opportunities, check out:

Volunteer Bureau of Montreal

Bénévoles d’affaires

You can also just call an organization you’re interested in and ask if they need volunteers. Rarely does an organization turn away a volunteer!

This is not an exhaustive list but it will put you on the right path. Keep in mind that most jobs are not advertised so be ready to network and connect with as many people as possible. Good luck!

If you have any other sites that should be part of the job search, please feel free to share it!

Canada’s Richest Neighbourhoods

Ligia — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:22:15 +0000

Canadian Business just came out with it’s article entitled Canada’s Richest Neighbourhoods. For Montrealers, it’s no surprise that Westmount ranked no. 2 on the Canadian list.

Looking at the list, it’s interesting but at the end of the day, the questions is: So What? We can figure that out just by driving around the city and it becomes quite apparent when we enter those neighbourhoods.

What bothers me about this list is that some charities may take it as the “go-to” postal list for direct mail. Oh yes it does happen! That question is often asked, especially from small, startup charities that don’t have a database of donors yet and that are trying to acquire donors.

Admittedly, donor acquisition is difficult, costly and time consuming (but not impossible). Where do we start? Who do we send it to? What do we say? Are typical questions organizations asked.

But sending a “Dear Friend” letter to a resident of a postal code that has made to this list is not the answer. Why? Simply put: wealth is not an indicator of passion or interest to your cause.

There I said! People sometimes think that because a person has wealth that they are more apt to give it away to anyone who asks. In fact, that is not the case. How many times have you heard a co-worker or a board say: Who do we know has money? (sigh).

People give money because there’s an emotional connection, because they are compelled by the case for support, because someone asked them in the right way.

So before you call an emergency meeting to devise your strategy to solicit the residents of any of those neighbourhoods, think to yourself: Are they really a good fit for my charity? Can we afford going for a “fishing expedition”? If the answer is yes, than you’re off to the races. If the answer is no, don’t waste your time and money.

What non-profits can learn from VW

Ligia — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:55:26 +0000

This blog entry was first posted on the #fundchat guest blog.

I have been loving Volkswagen cars since I was young. Simply put, they are stylish, good cars that are a pleasure to drive but this blog post is not about cars. It’s about loyalty: Volkswagen style. You’re probably wondering where I’m going with this but bear with me. It’ll all come together soon!

After many years of living without a car in downtown Montreal, I decided in June of 2010 to buy a car. There was no doubt in my mind that it would be another Volkswagen. After all, my last car 15 years ago had been a Jetta and I had some great adventures with it! As a new client, I automatically became a Volkswagen Plus Member. Admittedly, I had no clue what that meant. Little did I know that I was embarking on a journey.

Within a couple of weeks, I received a welcome package – I mean fancy, Apple-style packaging and all – with a letter addressed to me, a catalogue of VW accessories and a shammy to clean my new (gee, thanks VW, throw in the guy who’ll clean the car and we’re in business!). At Christmas, I received a greetings card and on my birthday, a friendly birthday card from the dealership.

I have subsequently received free movie passes, invitations to special events and just today, I was invited to the “ultimate freedriving tour”. As VW put it: “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to discover Autobahn-ready performance in conditions you’ll never get on the road”. Wow! Being adventurous as I am, how can I say no to that?

After I registered to the event (after all, I don’t want to miss this opportunity!), I realized VW has been thanking me for being a customer and making sure I remain loyal to their brand. By using these events, reminders, perks and activities, VW was treating me to a complete customer experience that put my needs and interests at the forefront.

The birthday and Christmas cards, the free movie tickets, the Autobahn-like driving experience are all part of the VW loyalty program they carefully designed to ensure that customers like me feel special, valued, cared for and respected. Intrinsically this ensures customer loyalty and, naturally, return business.

As it has become apparent, what I have talking about is the company’s approach to long-term relationship building. Much like you and I do every day with our donors. In the past, I dismissed their cards and letters as just another marketing piece. It took the “ultimate freedriving tour” to hook me and make me realize that I am loyal to the brand because I like and believe in the product.

So whether you are creating a new stewardship program or freshening your current program, ask yourself these questions:

What do I do or what can I do to make my donors feel special, valued and respected?
How am I doing to ensure my donors’ loyalty to my organization?
How am I creating a unique experience for my donors?
What journey do I want to take my donors on?

Take the time to think how you would want to be treated as a donor and the answers will come to you. We all want to be part of something bigger than we are – as fundraisers it is our job to facilitate that process for our donors. Good luck and enjoy the ride!