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As INDC’s year draws to a close, I look back and see a great year of speakers and networking opportunities. What an adventure! I want to take this moment to personally thank the Executive Committee for their tireless efforts as we move INDC forward to bigger and better things.

This has also been a tremendous year of change for philanthropic professionals in the Spokane community. Foundations have been downsized in local hospitals, a major leadership change at Eastern Washington University with the loss of Steve Jordan and Phil Acre, not to mention the cancellation of WAMPUM for hopefully just this year – a Spokane institution for over twenty years.

Foundation Northwest has also been going through its own transition this year with hiring a new President and CEO: Mark Hurtubise. Please attend our upcoming meeting on May 25^th at Mukogawa to hear Dr. Hurtubise discuss his vision for Foundation Northwest.

Thanks again for a wonderful year!

Sincerely,

JoAnne Watts

President

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Organizations seeking Board members and other volunteers are invited to have a display table at the annual Leadership Spokane Graduation and Volunteer Fair. This is a great way to educate potential volunteers about your mission. The event is scheduled for June 9, 2005 at the historic Glover Mansion, 2:30 to 5 PM. Table fee is $25. Space is limited.  For information call 509.459.4116 or contact leadership@chamber.spokane.net

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by Wayne Olson

Two summers ago, in the August 2003 Planned Giving Today*, I wrote about theme parks and how planned giving can be a lot like a trip to Orlando. There are many lessons found in the way resorts prepare for and treat their guests. There is so much there that I thought it would be time for a return trip.

Like theme parks employees, who we are and how we act matters as much or more so than what we do. The greatest roller coaster in the world is a little less fun if the attendant was rude. The most luxurious hotel cannot overcome a non-caring staff or disrespectful front desk. Similarly, a fantastically clever remainder trust is overshadowed by the disappointment a donor feels when she can never reach the gift officer on the phone. An unbelievably high gift annuity rate means nothing if the check is consistently late.

While people may take a T-shirt home from the theme park, or a tote bag home from one of our events, what matters most in both worlds is the memory of the experience. Theme parks provide an interest-ing model for us to follow. There is always something to learn from them. So, return with me now to the Planned Giving Theme Park, where we can find more lessons and more fun ways to perform our jobs better.

No More Lines!

One of the latest innovations to the theme park is a special ticket that allows you to skip a ride’s line. You make a “reservation” and then return an hour or so later and essentially walk on. Guests like the idea of not waiting in line. Theme parks like the idea more.

With no waiting lines, guests find themselves free to have a soda, popcorn, or to pick out a T-shirt to take home with them. The theme park sees it a little differently. Guests are now liberated to buy a soda, buy popcorn, or buy a T-shirt. What was downtime for doth is now leisurely for one and profitable for another.

The ride reservation system teaches us that what we offer and what people consume are often two different things. Sometimes we make the mistake of assuming that the donor is thinking exactly as we are. After all, the donor is in front of a planned giving officer, so the donor obviously wants to talk about a planned gift. While that man be true, the donor may not always see it that way.

Because we have a terrific software and extensive training on the technical side of giving, we frequently turn to those details quickly They are incredibly important, and we should be grateful that we have the wonderful software and training that we enjoy and take for granted.

However, when we talk with donors, they want to hear about our mission, our purpose and our drive. They want to make the world a better place. We should remember that the donors want to hear “mission” not “deduction”, so we should tailor the discussion accordingly. Everything else, as important as it is, only serves to support this. We should remain focused oh the mission and leave the drafting details to attorneys and assign the money management issues to financial professionals.

Sometimes we worry when a donor doesn’t seem to appreciate the proposed benefits of a great income tax deduction. The donor may “wander away” for a while and not pay attention to the technical benefits of a gift. Bit, just like the theme parks encourage their guests to briefly get out of line, we can begin to appreciate that the donor only wants to spend more time in the mission and then return to the gift discussion when it is time to act. Theme park economics prove that is okay.

Responding to Problems

Everywhere, sometime, rain will fall. Even in the relative paradise of theme parks there are going to be problems. If there is marketing genius in the way a good theme park runs, it is the response mechanisms and training it develops to handle problems that arise.

Brad was upset. He had planned his resort vacation for months. He saved his money and reserved a special room overlooking the pool. When he arrived he was horrified to see the pool was drained and roped off. It had a small leak, and management had drained it for repairs.

While it was empty, they also decided to perform some maintenance which took a few days. From the resort’s perspective, it made sense. Rather than have the pool out twice, it would only be once, and a much more efficient use of money and resources.

But from Brad’s point of view, no decision or situation could be worse. He wanted the pool.

How did the hotel respond to him? Unfortunately, most employees and management would answer with something about the economics of the situation or maybe how the leak could not be predicted or avoided. In similar situations, you may have heard some employees say, “The pools not that nice anyway. You’re not missing much.”

The worst would probably be: “It is our policy to repair the pool once a year, and this is the best way we could do it, and you happened to be unlucky to show up when you did. Come back next year and it will be fixed.” How many times have you heard a similar excuse?

For a well-run resort or theme park, there can be only one response to a problem like this: “That’s terrible!” The employees will always empathize with the guests. They will let them know they share their feelings and that they have a right to be disappointed.

A disgruntled guest can have a fully scripted monologue prepared to launch on the employee, but how magnificent it is when an employee immediately disarms him or her by actually taking the guest’s side!

A good resort will follow through with a handwritten letter to the guests inviting him to return with a free upgrade to one of the nicer rooms. An exceptional hotel will include with the note an oversized resort beach towel to help the guests “prepare” for next summer.

In our planned giving world, there are no pools, golf courses, or roller coasters. But we do have an occasional late gift annuity check. We do have donors who are left off important invitation lists. Sometimes misspelled names make it onto plaques and into publications. No matter what, we do well to respond like a good resort.

When the donor calls, let him or her know how terrible the lapse is. Anything less means you are entering into and argument you cannot win. The donor will not want to hear what the policy is or even how sorry we are or why what happened makes sense. The donor will not care how busy we were when the list was made, or how the new printer was difficult to work with.

So we shouldn’t waste time explaining this – even if it’s all true! We should confess the error, then respond with what will make the customer happy, plus a little more. If the last gift annuity check was late, deliver the next one in person early, with a plate of cookies.

Conclusion

As spring arrives and summer tourism is close at hand, always remember that the theme park is never far away. Even if we won’t be riding a roller coaster soon, in our minds we can apply the thrills, chills, and smiles of America’s favorite destinations to our chosen profession. We can make a charitable experience even more rewarding and fulfilling if we take a donor to the park with us – the Planned Giving Theme Park.

NOTE: Wayne’s 2003 article may be found at www.pgtoday.com/pgt/selected_articles.htm.

This article is reprinted by permission from the April 2005 issue of Planned Giving Today® Copyright © 2005. All Right Reserved. For more information about Planned Giving Today, please visit www.pgtoday.com.

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I missed a couple of announcements in the last newsletter, so they may seem like"old news" to some of you.

uIn November of 2004, Becky Swan left SPOC of Spokane after serving as the Executive Director for seven years. The new director is Laurie Zapf. He was a manager at DSHS before starting at SPOC.

uKathie H. Allen of Allen Consulting got married 2/26/05. Her new name is Kathie H. Burch. Allen Consulting will still be the business name. Her new email address is kathiejoe@comcast.et and new phone is 509.444.1933.

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by Karen Hodge

Grant writers by necessity must be able to keep a number of different balls in the air at once or risk ineffectiveness. Operating grants. Program grants. Construction projects. Equipment needs. And on and on and on. Whether you are a paid staffer at a single organization or you freelance for a variety of non-profits, you must be able to manage a diverse portfolio of grant projects.

Write things down. I know if I do not record what I am doing I am not going to remember. There is just too much going on to keep track of every detail. First, I have my lists of grant projects on which I am working. I try to keep that in front of my eyes at all times, as a visual reminder of what I must accomplish. Sometimes this list is bare bones, just listing the project. Other times, when the details are available, I will include deadlines and the funding source to which I will be applying.

Second, I keep track of my progress, in writing. I make detailed notes from interviews, telephone conversations, and research. Also, I write a weekly activity report on all my work over the past seven days, which I save so I can keep track of what I have done.

These written lists and progress reports can be done by hand or recorded in some format on your computer. The important thing is to find a system that works for you and record what you are working on. The memory can fade, but pen to paper (or computer to paper, as the case may be) is a permanent record of where you are going and what you have done so far to get there.

Organize. Okay, writing things down is great, but if you cannot find your notes they will not be much good to you. Again, each individual has to find a system that works for her, but my personal process includes making a file folder for each project. The projects I am currently working on stay in a desktop organizer that allows for them to stand upright, facing me. I cannot forget a project if it stares me in the face every day. Within each file I include notes I have taken on the project, progress I have made, contact information, and possible funding sources. These files come in handy while I am searching for funding for a particular project, and I have used them after a project has concluded as fodder for similar grants on which I am working.

Prioritize. What do you need to get done first? Years ago, when I was just a little grant writer, I asked the Vice President for Development (my supervisor) and the President of an institution for which I worked for help prioritizing a long list of projects they wanted grant funds for -- yesterday. The President and VP started down the list assigning each item the number one. When we arrived at the seventeenth item on the list (again assigned a one), I interrupted. "Gentleman," I said. "Something on this list has got to be a two." Their compromise was to give the next item the assignment of "1B."

I offer this story because it illustrates one of the problems so many grant writers encounter every day: the perception that every problem is a crisis and needs to be addressed immediately. Demand, if you have to, that those above you give you the top three priorities on their list. That is not to say that you will ignore the others, but a list of twenty items is unmanageable and sets the grant writer up for failure. Knowing where to start, with the top needs, helps you to address the most important issues your organization is facing and enables you to be more effective.

Insist on planning. The topic of prioritizing needs brings me to the issue of planning. I have worked for organizations that approached grant writing as if it were an emergency fund raising tool. I call this the Chicken Little approach to fund raising: The sky is falling... we better get a grant right away.

Those of us in the field know that planning is crucial to a successful grantsmanship program. Securing a grant takes TIME. In a Utopian grant world, the project would be planned out BEFORE the need for it is critical. Adequate time would be given to get the research done with regard to finding an appropriate funding source. Then, and only then, would the grant be written and submitted. I tell those who come to me seeking grant funds that it could take us a month and it could take us a year to get a grant for their programs. While there are grant funds out there for emergency needs, the best grant program relies on and has access to a quality planning process.

Economize. If you are working on several grant projects at once, try to batch your efforts to make the best use of your time. For example, let's say you are writing grants for your annual campaign, a construction project, and seed money to start a new program and you need to research possible funding sources. Conduct all of your research at once, moving from one topic to the next until you have completed it. You are already in research mode; you already have your resources in front of you. Why not combine the effort and get the most out of your research session?

Communicate. It is vital that you keep all parties informed of what you are doing. When a client or colleague thinks that you are not working on his project -- because he sees you are working on another one -- he can become cranky. Keep all involved parties in the loop; let them know where you stand on their projects and what is going to happen next. This tactic reduces complaining (of course, it will never eliminate griping) and decreases the likelihood that anyone will think you are slacking.

Ask for help. Grant writes are often the lone wolves in their organizations, being the only person among their colleagues who does what they do. Look for opportunities to delegate. Can a secretary in the office assist you with organizing your files, making copies, or packaging grant materials? Can the person who asked you to write the grant assist by gathering background information or finding an expert to whom you can talk? Are you lucky enough to have a budget where you could hire a subcontractor to do some of your research for you? Finding assistance can help you better manage the workflow.

Grant writing can be at the same time frustrating and rewarding. The trick in keeping it on the positive side of that equation is to learn to juggle multiple priorities in an effective way. A grant writer who can master this balancing act will find her efforts will be more effective, resulting in a higher number of approved grants.

This articles is repritned with permission from the Charity Channel. For more information regadring the Charity Channel, this article and other related materials, please go to charitychannel.com

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