Best practices make the best organizations even better. They confirm good thinking and reinforce smart processes. They strengthen relationships and secure bottom lines. They improve organizational efficiency and enhance value.

Most important, they make it ever more likely you will succeed in your mission.

The nice thing about best practices, they easily transfer from one organization to another…or even across industry lines. Another plus: No one has a lock on good ideas. Each of us can benefit from the combined wisdom of others.

Knowledge sharing was the goal when Hartsook Companies, Inc., conducted a best-practices survey at the Association of Fundraising Professionals' 39th International Conference. The event took place April 14-17, 2002 in St. Louis. Through cards mailed to early registrants before the conference, and interviews conducted on the tradeshow floor, we collected some powerful practices.

All in all, 125 professionals contributed. They represented nonprofits and suppliers from 32 US states, the District of Columbia and three other countries.

Below, we present 15 of the most compelling. We encourage you to see how they can fit within -- and strengthen -- your organization. You can tap into the entire Hartsook Companies Best Practices Collection by visiting the Hartsook Companies web site.

Defining best practices can be a sophisticated process, filled with extensive and expensive technical research, thorough analysis, cross-discipline review and significant process-based number crunching. Those are luxuries (and needs) nonprofit organizations typically don't possess.

But a best practice also can be something smart and simple: a good idea well applied. And from that perspective, nonprofits are rich in them. If it helps your organization improve, it's a practice worth repeating.

As you consider creating and adopting your own best practices, don't rely just on the knowledge of your organization or others in the same field of service. That can shut out some very interesting possibilities. Expand your horizons and resources. Look in different places for new ways of doing things.

There's a story that, whether apocryphal or true, is quite striking about the power of a good idea to transcend industries.

A couple of decades ago, the president of an overnight shipping company defined his job as "learning stuff." One day he was thumbing through a grocery trade magazine -- not the typical publication read by a freight hauler. He came across a story about a new check-out-line technology called "scanning."

If it worked for them, he reasoned, why not for us? That one simple idea -- and the guts to try it-shook the business world. You might have heard of the company: Federal Express.

That president did not limit himself or his thinking. He took what he knew about his industry, his customers' needs and his own. He assessed the new technology and its potential. He saw something, then saw something different. He opened his mind to a new way of doing things, and opened the future.

So here's a best practice for you: Expand your horizons as you seek good ideas that lead to great possibilities.

We intend to continually update The Hartsook Companies Best Practices Collection. Please submit your best practice to ron@hartsookcompanies.com (or call 913.649.0193). Feel free to share your best thoughts with your peers through our Web site, and check back regularly.

If you would like more information about ways to improve your organization, wish to share a best practice or would like to learn more about Hartsook Companies' philanthropic counsel, please contact Shelly Chinberg, shelly@hartsookcompanies.com (or call 316.630.9992).

FIFTEEN GREAT BEST PRACTICES AND BEST GREAT IDEAS
From the AFP's 39th International Conference

• We have turned away from paid premiums and instead thank donors with "Salon Evenings." We bring in a writer or artist to their home for an intimate evening of 25-50 people (donors plus their select guests). The result is, we spend much less on the thank-you gifts than before…and it has paid off with larger donations to our organization. We do this about five times a year as a special event for those in our "inner circle" of donors. It's much more fun than packing up mugs!
  -Keri Healey, Washington Commission for the Humanities (Seattle, WA)
  
  
• Ensure every board meeting starts with five minutes of pure mission and vision, not just business.
  -Mary Murawski, Presbyterian Children's Services (St. Louis, MO)
  
  
• Every month we circulate to our board a set of donor sheets: each individual who has given $250 or more. The members call the donor and say, "Hi, I'm a volunteer board member…and thank you." Then they listen to donors, and hear why they the donors care about our organization. Donors love it. The board loves it. Each board member hears five to 10 times a month how wonderful we are. That gives them great confidence when they ask for funds or represent our organization.
  -Gordon Durnan, South Muskoka Hospital Foundation (Bracebridge, Ontario)
  
  
• We respond with a hand-written note to any comments donors make with their gift or response to solicitation. Example: A new $15 donor wrote a note to a response piece that said, "It's not much but it helps. I'm 90 and living in a (nursing) home." I wrote him back a nice note thanking him…and now I'm going to visit him to talk about a bequest.
  -Patti Holmes, CFRE, FamilyLinks (Pittsburgh, PA)
  
  
• We were able to get former legislators to talk to the current legislators and Congress members to help us bring in government money. The former legislators know all the right people, still want to be involved and are happy to help. People don't ask them for much any more…and they still want to be of service. They can be good lobbyists and supporters.
  -Jessica White, Jessica White Associates (Indianapolis, IN)
  
  
• We send donors a jar of honey each year. Our president raises bees; the connection between the organization and leadership makes a strong statement and serves as a great reinforcer.
  -Matthew Ruffner, The Leadership Institute (Arlington, VA)
  
  
• We tell volunteer fundraisers to keep a smile on their face, that it's OK to ask for money. Fundraising is not a bad word. If a volunteer doesn't like to ask, tell them you'll put them somewhere else so they don't have to ask. We had a lawyer who said, 'you don't want me asking anybody for money. I've lived in this town all my life. I've probably sued everybody at least once!'" We found something else for him to do.
  -Carole Wright, CFRE, Resurrection Catholic Missions (Montgomery, AL)
  
  
• With capital campaigns, we create a leadership committee outside of the typical campaign cabinet to identify bright people for cabinet and leadership roles. Set them apart and start the process. It especially works for organizations that don't have strong or experienced boards.
  -Jeanne Schmelzer CFRE, Netzel (San Jose, CA)
  
  
• Create Young Philanthropist Awards to encourage gifts of time, talent and treasure among the younger generation.
  -Sue Watts, St. Vincent Hospital (Green Bay, WI)
  
  
• Never forget your alumni's (donors') spouses. Keep them in the loop…for now and later.
  -Jill Belcher, New Mexico State University (Las Cruces, NM)
  
  
• Get development officers in the field and away from their desk, away from the day- to-day paperwork. Get them out where they can talk to people, learn more about your mission, communicate and connect.
  -Bert Armstrong, Methodist Home for Children (Raleigh, NC)
  
  
• Conduct community-wide strategic planning (headed up by a facilitator) to bring together colleagues and collaborators for mutual benefit. It brings organizations together who previously saw themselves solely as competitors to make significant mutual gain.
  -Unsigned
  
  
• Pay attention to your planned giving donors. The relationship begins-not ends-when they make the gift. They expect a life-time partnership. Make them a part of all you do. Get them involved and build a sense of ownership. Don't forget them.
  -Rebecca Zimmer, CFRE, National Benevolent Association (St. Louis, MO)
  
  
• Think like a business person when running your organization.
  -Mary Imig, Nebraska Children and Families Foundation (Lincoln, NE)
  
  
• "Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!"
  -Mickey Alvino, Deborah Hospital Foundation (Bayside, NY)

The entire collection of 125 Best Practices and Great Ideas is online at Hartsook Companies, Inc.

  ©2004 Hartsook Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

P.O. Box 782648 • Wichita, KS 67278
1-877-7GIVING
(316) 634.2100
Fax (316) 630.9993

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