How to Hire a Fundraiser: New Talent Acquisition and Management in the Nonprofit Setting

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How to Hire a Fundraiser:

New Talent Acquisition and Management in the Nonprofit Setting

David A. Mersky

July 11, 2012


Of:

Advising nonprofits in:

• Strategy

• Planning

• Organizational Development

www.synthesispartnership.com

(617) 969-1881

[email protected]

INTEGRATED PLANNING


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www.mission.do


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Today’s Speaker

David A. MerskyFounder and Managing Director

Mersky, Jaffe & Associates

Hosting:

Sam Frank, Synthesis PartnershipAssisting with chat questions: Jamie Maloney, Nonprofit Webinars

How to Hire a Fundraiser:

New Talent Acquisition and

Management in the Nonprofit Setting

David A. MerskyFounder and Managing Director

Mersky, Jaffe & AssociatesJuly 11, 2012

©2012 Mersky, Jaffe & Associates

Stay tuned until the end…

…for an offer

that you cannot

refuse.©2012 Mersky, Jaffe & Associates


The State of Philanthropy in

America Today


The number of 501(c)(3) organizations, 2002–2011

2011 charitable giving

Total = $298.42 billion

The NGO Human Resource Environment

• NGOs confront a most serious issue

– Little or no movement at the top

– Challenge to retain talent

• Succession crisis

• On the other hand, organizational

professional leadership talent deficit

particularly in development and fundraising


Talent Deficit: Challenges

• Alternative career choices

• No clear career-tracking nor plans for retention

• View professional development and continuing education as a luxury

• Greater complexity/uncertainty in the sector

• No self-imposed CPE requirements


Talent Deficit: Challenges

• Growing number of nonprofits– 200,000 + since 1975

– 10% of national workforce—19% in NYC

– Next 12 months, 28% of NGOs with $1 MM + revenues plan to make senior management hires=24,000 vacancies

• Major communal bodies have lost 60% of their donors over the past 40 years

• Insularity chokes off a sense of larger movement to improve our cities, our nations and the world


Prescriptive Approaches

• Educate our boards and leaders about the challenges and crisis

• Have serious, intentional conversations about succession planning—professional and volunteer—at board meetings

• Value professional development and continuing professional and volunteer education

– We need visionary funders

– Agencies should tax themselves 1% to 2% of budget for CPE


Prescriptive Approaches

• Recognize that a professional career has phases

– Each requires a different kind of development

• Create standards and benchmarks so organizations

– can measure itself against its own talent management and retention goals

– Can compare themselves against others by sector, geography, size, etc.


But…

…it makes little sense to spend time and money to

train and develop your team—particularly the

fundraisers—when they lack the capability for

sustainable improvement.

• ―Mishiring‖ is an epidemic

• 20% to 33% of all fundraisers lack the capacity to be

successful


Past Hiring Methods

No Longer Apply• A bad hire—a person who does not make it

through the first year—can cost 150% (200%

to 250% for senior executives) of the first

year’s compensation plus lost opportunities

• Multiply these costs by your employee

turnover


Past Hiring Methods

No Longer Apply• Past record of stellar performance

– Different organization, different competitors,

different offer, different donors

• Accuracy of resume

– Rigorous and methodical reference checking is

now a must

• Your ability to ―read‖ people, i.e., your ―gut‖

– More often than not hurts hiring effectiveness


A Formal Hiring Process

• The goal is to get the right people on the bus

and invest in them = talent management and

retention

• To do that

– Get off the seat of your pants

– Create a formal process to provide an objective

assessment of each candidate—the most critical

success factor in hiring today



Steps for Smart Hiring

• Form a three person hiring team

• Agree on how the position and the organization will be

described in a consistent way to all candidates

• Write an accurate job description—not ―walk on water‖

• Create a resume screening filter to eliminate unqualified– Respond to everyone with appreciation

– Keep people informed as to where they are in the process



• Build a profile for the role

– Skills—a developed aptitude or ability, such as – Listening

– Presenting

– Traits—an inherited or innate characteristic, such as – Tenacity

– Intelligence

– Drive for self-improvement

– Integrity

– Positivity

– Flexibility

– Curiosity

– Coachability©2012 Mersky, Jaffe & Associates


• Engineer 1st, 2nd and, if required, 3rd round interview

questions

• Develop a rigorous reference-checking procedure

• Build simulation and role-playing exercises into

interview for final candidates

• Build a relationship with a predictive testing provider

• Create individualized on-boarding plan for each new

hire


I Know What You Are Thinking…

• Where am I going to find the time to do all of

this?

– “I do have a day job!”

• Look at the numbers:– Building the process=10 hours

– Taking the first candidate through the process (rather than ―tell me about

yourself…‖)=5 hours

• Raise your success rate from 2 out of 3 to 3 out of

four where one wrong hire might cost $250,000©2012 Mersky, Jaffe & Associates


Some final thoughts…

• Practice what you preach—Always Be Prospecting

– Prospecting is a process—not an event

– Set aside time each month to prospect and interview

fundraising talent



• Go for EQ not IQ– Emotional intelligence is more valuable than a 4.0

– Here are three EQ traits:• Assertiveness

– Don’t waste time—theirs or prospects—on unqualified opportunities

– Know how to state what is needed from prospect

• Empathy– Turn off WII-FM

– Show genuine, sincere interest in prospects and donors

• Flexibility– Open to new ideas

– Uses new information which comes at ever faster pace.©2012 Mersky, Jaffe & Associates


• Flexibility

– Open to new ideas

– Uses new information which comes at ever faster pace

• Check and hire for values

– Cultural fit

– ―Tell me about a time when you helped one of your

peers or another department and received no

recognition or reward.‖



• Invest your time wisely

– Keep new hire motivated

– Provide continuous feedback and professional development

opportunities

• Private recognition nice—public approbation better

• Make every meeting a ―money maker‖

– Plan so that everyone walks away with a nugget to make

them more successful that week



To receive two free lists of

questions…

1. To ask in an initial screening interview

2. A second round interview

3. To ask when checking references

Send an email to:

[email protected]


Mersky, Jaffe

& AssociatesFinancial and Human Resource

Development Solutions for Nonprofits

800.361.8689 413.556.1074 fax

www.merskyjaffe.com

OFFICES IN BOSTON AND NEW YORK


http://www.merskyjaffe.com/


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Find listings for our current season of webinars and register at:

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How to Hire a Fundraiser: New Talent Acquisition and Management in the Nonprofit Setting

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