Nick Tedesco

When thinking back to my time as a nonprofit CEO, I recall many sleepless nights wrestling with funding challenges. Conversations often focused on writing grants, annual campaigns, and donor engagement, but the results stayed the same. It wasn’t until we started thinking differently that we saw real change. 🚀Imagine a nonprofit and philanthropic world where innovation drives fund development, creating sustainable impact within our organizations, where new ideas are celebrated, and risks are seen as opportunities.  🌟 In my latest Coaching Innovation Blog, Innovating Fund Development for Greater Impact, discover how embracing innovation can transform your organization's approach to funding. ❓How can nonprofits elevate their fund development strategies to create greater impact? 🧠 Cultivate a Culture of Innovation: Encourage an environment where creativity thrives, and risks are part of the growth journey. 🔍 How can you foster a culture of innovation? Reflect on your organization's openness to new ideas and discuss your risk tolerance and risk threshold. 💡 Innovation Pop-ups: Organize regular brainstorming sessions to bring together diverse perspectives and generate innovative new fund development strategies. When we create a culture of innovation that leverages technology and embraces diverse funding sources, we can transform our organizations and the communities we serve. How have you leveraged innovation to support fund development? 🔗 Check out the full article at www.Jordansydnor.com . 

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4 Components of a Culture of Philanthropy "Development staff are always included in organizational decisions. Program staff play an active role in relationship building. Fundraising and engagement are inextricably linked. Transformational relationships take priority over transactions." More insights and explications of these points can be found in this important article by Claire.

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Many donors still are trying to understand how donor-advised funds work. Likewise, a lot of nonprofit leaders still are unsure the right way to work with donors who give through DAFs, much less the DAF providers themselves. In the latest Giving Ventures podcast, we tackle both sides of the equation. The podcast plays back a great webinar we hosted for non-profit leaders last week exploring how to use and work with DAF providers. Take a listen, whether you be a donor, non-profit CEO, or a fundraiser. You'll find something to help you!

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💡 If you work with non-profits, then it’s no secret that it's getting harder and harder for them to reach their fundraising objectives. As a foundation or fonds de dotation (French endowment fund) a simple way help is to provide multi-year funding.   👇This article from KV Philanthropy Consulting offers a few insights as multi-year vs one-off donations and what impacts they can have for both associations and foundations. Don’t hesitate to let me know what you think! (Vous trouvez également la version française via le lien ci-dessous) #Donation #Multiyear #foundation #fondsdedotation #nonprofit #charity #association #grantmaking #fundraising #philanthropy

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Are you a donor or a grantmaker? Help our colleagues at 21/64 & the National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers (NNCG) gain valuable insights on how you engage philanthropy consultants or advisors to advance your giving. Click here to start the survey > https://bit.ly/49FGn76

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Educating Bosses and Boards About Setting Fundraising Goals First of all, its a huge issue - one that we all need to keep flagging as a major cause of: Donor attrition Staff turnover Donor fatigue Staff discouragement The erosion of our greater philanthropic potential So where's the best place to begin? Within your own data. I know from long and direct experience that there is no better way to change clients' outlook than to show them their own data. Particularly helpful are the histories of their previous major gifts including: How many years of giving preceded that donor's largest gift? How long it took from the time donors were approached with the idea for the major gift to the time they committed? These analyses invariably reveal that there is a long incubation period in development of loyal, generous donors. They also reveal a long gestation period in the birthing of major gifts, from the time an idea is introduced to the time the commitment is made. The average is two years but major gifts are like mammals - the larger the gift, the longer the gestation period. In addition, powerful trends can be seen in your annual giving including: A loss of donor volume A growing dependence on fewer donors giving increasingly more Large "annual gifts" secured in ways that are much more like major gift processes That dialogue and community building produce better results then one-way appeals If you are a young organization or don't have access to such data, request it from a colleague in a like organization or from those who contribute regularly to the field. It's in my books, articles and posts as well as those of my colleagues. If we are to better educate our bosses and boards, we need to start with ourselves. Second, we have to get over this notion that anything we suggest in the name of more informed goal setting is: Complaining Not being positive Unprofessional Just flip that around to see how ludicrous this sounds. "Well, I'm proud to say I maintained my cheerful, can do disposition in the face of steady donor loss and accelerating staff attrition." That's "professional"? Times to address goal setting include: When applying jobs When presented with KPIs During a performance review In requesting professional development or staff training In all these instances you can contrast current practice with more data-driven approaches. You can make it clear that you are positive about the mission and keen on advancing it but want to focus your efforts in ways that will produce the more significant, sustainable successes. Finally, we can't lose sight of a basic truth. You don't increase fundraising success by tasking fundraisers to get more money but by giving them evidence of how investment in your organization leads to higher service levels. Donors don't give because they're asked but because they are given compelling opportunities to make differences in ways they find personally meaningful and satisfying.

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"The fullest expression of trust-based philanthropy's goals is when it creates space for both parties' relative strengths and assets to fully contribute toward a shared impact objective." Thanks to The Bridgespan Group for this thoughtful analysis of trust as a critical facet of social impact, and for inviting me to add my perspective (link to my article in comments). https://lnkd.in/gQUJnJJQ

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Thoughtful Stewardship Motivates Other Donors As seasoned fundraisers will attest, many major donors will, upon making a gift commitment, say they want no recognition and a surprising number say they would prefer to remain anonymous. I don't know how many say that because it's how they feel or because they think that is what they should say. It doesn't really matter. My standard response was "We need your example." Example is important in philanthropy and fundraising. I wanted to afford my donors recognition because I knew it would be inspiring and motivating to others - if we told their story in the right way. All too often we squander the opportunity of example. We announce the amount someone has given and make some banal statements about the transformative effect it will have but rarely do we follow up and demonstrate the actual transformational impact years down the road. Even sadder, we don't do enough to publicize why the donor gave or highlight the values that underpinned and motivated their giving. Yet, the story of why one donor gave can be highly motivating to other current and potential donors. We seem to forget that many of us spend our lives trying to become better people. We seek to liberate our big and altruistic side from our small, selfish and self-protective side. We don't always know how to do that but we try. It's why we look to the examples of others, why we look for people we can admire and emulate. It's not how much someone gave but why. When we hear about someone giving because they want to spare others from the loss or pain visited on them or their loved ones, we revisit our pain and loss and ask ourselves if we have done enough to spare others. When we hear about someone giving to return what they think was a good done for them years ago, we go back to our past and ourselves if we have paid due credit to those who were most helpful in our formative years. When we hear someone giving because they felt fortune smiled on them, we think more about our good fortune and how we might share it. The more we seize on the power of example through effective storytelling, we help others reflect and say to themselves: That's who I want to be like. That's how I could give more meaning to my life. That's how I can become a better person. It's not the size of the gift we celebrate, it's the examples of how people turn to philanthropy to forgive, to convert struggle and loss to purpose, to remember and honor those that shaped their lives, to chip away at injustices visited on them, to provide others opportunities they never had, and to bequeath more to the future than they inherited from the past. We need these examples and these stories. We want to be in the presence of people striving to do good with their lives. We look for ways to be better people. The more thoughtfully we steward and share each donor's story, the more we widen the philanthropic path.

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We have over 1K folks registered for our upcoming free webinar on "Funding Nonprofit Endowments as an Equity Strategy: Perspectives from Funders and Nonprofits." ⭐ Reserve your spot here (all registrants will receive a recording of the webinar): https://lnkd.in/eXB3_v6C #webinar #philanthropy #giving #nonprofits #endowments #equity

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Mindsets That Make For More Certain Fundraising Success The right fundraising mindsets are those that are most attuned and resonant with philanthropic hopes and philanthropic decision-making. If the mindsets aren't right, the strategy and tactics flowing from them will prove largely ineffective no matter how imaginatively conceived or well executed. All too common is the elevation of an administrative voice, one that expects the donor to help with the smooth running of the place and respond to the practicalities of balancing the budget, taking care of maintenance and building a reserve. Those are significant issues but they are not primary philanthropic motivators. The donor may be willing to listen to the administrative voice once they have bought into the cause, identified with the leaders, and come to believe in the organization's determination to grind out differences no matter how great the challenges. The first voices the donors must hear are: The voice of outrage - this cannot stand The voice of compassion - we can and must step in The voice of hope - we see a way to make a difference The voice of determination - we have no other choice but to try Or some amalgam or variation of these voices. The voices must sound human and clearly sound in deep, dedicated service to humanity. For same strange reason that is too infrequently the case, but there most surely is a more certain way to inspire, assure and motivate the philanthropic.

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Whilst its hard to see that any progress has been made, to the contrary - it looks like 0 progress made and everything got worse, with recent years breaking through the 1.5C targets. We mustn't give up hope that the many initiatives that have been kicked off as a result of these agreements, have prevented worse things from happening... too optimistic? maybe But working in the sustainability and SDG space has never been more exciting, with many people sharing that a just transition to a more sustainable, de-growth and circular economy is, ...possible. The questions is how fast, to prevent worse things from happening (Climate Catastrophy, Ecological Collapse, ...the list is getting longer). Currently the ANNUAL financing gap to the 2030 SDGs is (according to UN estimates), around $4 trillion. This is the same as Germany's or Japan's Gross Domestic Product. This is a staggering number and concept that the money missing to achieve the SDGs is the same as the monetary value of ALL finished goods and services made in Germany or Japan on an annual basis. And yet, the world economy is worth around $100 Trillion, so $4 trillion = 4%. That ...almost...sounds doable? too optimistic? maybe When it comes to asset managers, total discretionary assets under management (AUM) of the 500 biggest managers amounted to USD 113.7 trillion at the end of 2022, down by 13.7% from the end of 2021. The largest, BlackRock, manages $10 trillion and the next biggest 2, Vanguard ($9 trillion) and Fidelity ($4 trillion). Surely, investing into solutions on a planet that is actually liveable with resources being consumed at a sustainable pace is what its at? Otherwise, what will be managed in 20 or 30 years?

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Questions We Can Ask To Turn Advancement Toward More Sustainable Practices I feel it, so do many of you. We're forming a critical mass of new thought. We're moving from gift getting to partnership building, from fundraising to philanthropic facilitation, from measuring success not just on dollars but donors retained and donors enlivened, from "acquiring donors" to attracting and nurturing kindred spirits. There's real movement toward the substantive and the sustainable. Each one of us can contribute and help this movement gain momentum by asking the right questions at the right moment every day. Every day. Just a few questions. We have to have the courage of our convictions but we also have to be diplomatic, respectful and professional. You won't cause anyone to rethink their assumptions, if you remain quiet, frustrated or disillusioned. You won't cause anyone to come on board our wagon by scoffing, bristling, or rolling your eyes (even if done inside your head). You know what to do. You've done it a thousands of times with donors and volunteers and others. You rebuff the unfounded and redirect the mistaken by asking "But what about...." You create alignments by asking, "Could we look at this together?" You don't put yourself above or below others. You engage as equals using the most effective community building and relationship building tool ever invented - genuine conversation. We learn and grow together by listening to and learning from each other. That's it. That's the only practical and sustainable way forward. So, as someone who has labored long but joyously in this vineyard and tried to make it better, may I ask a favor of you? Will you commit to asking at least a few good questions each day? Will you share this idea with others and ask them to share with you what they have learned so we can all learn together? Do you see how thousands and thousands of thoughtful practitioners around the world, by asking a few good questions each day, can become the water of hope that wears down the rock of transactional complacency and eventually turns from a trickle to a river racing to a new sea of possibility, a new way of achieving what we want together? Yes, of course it will never be perfect but water, not rock, brings life and feeds life. Choose to be water. Feed the trickle. Share your questions. Even if you don't always get the right answers, remember good questions never go away. They live and persist, waiting for good answers. They are seeds borne on the water of hope looking for fertile ground in which to take root. Be a sower. Sow a few thoughtful questions every day.

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This recent piece by FSG argues that foundations committed to systems change need to take an ecosystem approach guided by the principles of trust based philanthropy to inform strategy development, program implementation, and learning and evaluation. This reorientation takes funders from positioning themselves as central to positioning themselves as one component of an ecosystem. This results in, among other things: Strategy development moving from being developed internally to being co-created with ecosystem partners; Strategy implementation expanding beyond siloed grantmaking for organizations to support for collaboratives and community-led solutions; and Learning and evaluation expanding beyond grant-level outcomes and accountability with proscribed outcomes to co-developing systems level outcomes and learning. The authors provide helpful examples and frameworks for each stage of the strategy lifecycle. For those of you who fund in systems change, what resonates with you?

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When I joined the Knight Foundation a few months ago, I emphasized the need for philanthropy to act swiftly—'at the speed of news'—to address urgent needs in real time. Today, I am proud to announce that Knight is investing nearly $7 million to help voters access accurate, independent, nonpartisan information about the 2024 elections. The loss of local newsrooms across so many American communities has a devastating impact. And it is felt acutely at times when residents most need quality information to make critical decisions — during major weather or public safety events and election seasons, for example. Without trustworthy news, voters could be in the dark about local and statewide elections and ballot initiatives. Exacerbating the challenge, the advent of generative AI has significantly accelerated the creation and distribution of mis- and disinformation, making it even more difficult for voters to arrive at fact-based decisions. To address this, Knight's grant supports a collaboration between The Associated Press and the Institute for Nonprofit News News and LION: Local Independent Online News Publishers. This initiative will make high-quality election content and services accessible to local newsrooms in battleground states. Local newsrooms will also receive the support needed to localize this information, making it relevant and accessible to their communities. Additionally, these funds will support the Knight Election Hub, a collection of 100 free and subsidized resources, including data, software, and training. As new challenges such as deepfakes arise, the Hub will continue to expand its offerings to meet evolving needs. These initiatives support local news organizations in two ways: 1) they empower them with high quality tools that provide critical information, ensuring voters can make informed decisions about elections, and 2) they enhance their capacity to engage communities beyond the election season. The time is now for philanthropy to move at the speed of news. Read more about it here: https://kf.org/461zcGi #localnews #journalismmatters Jim Brady Duc Luu Marc Lavallee

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