Paying For Your Own Keep
Too often, especially in smaller non-profit organizations, staff development officers are forced into a deplorable position that belittles them and damages the organization. They are charged with personally raising their own salaries. These salaries sit outside the normal budgeting process. They are not treated as a regular operating expense. Instead, they become an extraordinary item, an afterthought.
There is no rational argument for this practice. I believe it comes from trustees who mistakenly view fund-raising as a necessary, but demeaning, evil. They try at all costs to avoid doing it themselves, even though fund-raising is universally acknowledged to be a primary responsibility of trustees. For these malfunctioning trustees, fund-raising is a repugnant task they hire someone else to do.
An attitude such as this places fund-raising outside of an organization’s regular operational activities. From there it is a short step to not including it in the budget and making development staff responsible for finding the money for their salaries.
Such a view is dangerously flawed. Trustees who think that the people they hire to raise funds are in fact “the” fund-raisers condemn their organization to a life of under funding and curtailed programming. It is the responsibility of the leadership of an organization to take the lead in raising the funds needed to sustain that organization. There is no stronger indicator of an organization in trouble than the refusal of its trustees to accept their fund-raising responsibility.
Fund-Raising Expense:
The Cost Of Doing the Organization’s “Business”
Growing, successful organizations see development staff salaries in the same light as any other personnel expense. They understand that a strong development effort is central to carrying out the mission of the organization. They know that fund-raising must be part of the operating budget. For them, fund-raising expenses and salaries are line items to be anticipated, projected, and budgeted—just like rent, utilities, supplies, and programming salaries.
The challenge for development officers faced with a raise-your-own-salary edict is to enlighten the organization’s leadership. For the good of the organization, such leadership has to be brought to an understanding that there are right ways and wrong ways to take on the daunting challenge of fund-raising.
The primary operational concern of a development officer must be the creation and management of a structure for raising the money to fund day-to-day operations. After that come capital and endowment campaigns. That order cannot be maintained when you are expected to mount a separate effort to raise your salary.
I’m not saying that development officers placed in such a position will selfishly respond with the attitude, “I have to get mine first.” But, competent development professionals who find themselves in such an organization will realize that fund-raising needs can’t be met unless someone is in place to manage the effort. That automatically puts getting the money to pay their salaries at the head of the line.
Squandering The Resources
What comes first for staff development professionals in this no-win position? Do they raise their salaries first and then get on with meeting the organization’s main fund-raising needs? Or should they be required to first raise the money the organization needs to balance its books for the fiscal year, and then go look for the money to pay their next year’s salaries? It’s a no-win situation either way.
Development officers forced to raise their own salaries first will go to the organization’s surest prospects for those salaries, taking them off the board for other solicitations. Those who have to do it at the end of the year are likely to squirrel away a few sure thing donors.
No matter which timetable such a development effort follows, the development staff will be distracted and some of the organization’s best donor prospects are likely to be under solicited. Asking these donors of first resort to give to the Development-Officer’s-Salary Campaign is likely to let them off the hook for other potentially larger gifts. It also runs the risk of pushing these important donors away from developing a sense of involvement with the organization’s core mission and purpose.
A Matter Of Survival
Then there is the whole issue of distracting the development staff from the organization’s needs. When they are worried about their paychecks, will the development staff be able to concentrate on long-term goals or building a cadre of volunteer solicitors? Such a development staff will be forced to deal on a daily basis with concerns over the financial security of their families. If some measure of success is achieved, how will the random receiving of contributions to the salary fit with the exacting schedule of the development officers’ regular and required needs—such as to pay the monthly mortgage?
What if they are unsuccessful in raising their salary money? Will they get paid? From where will the shortfall come? It’s human nature to expect that if you can’t raise your own salary, and you cannot meet your personal financial obligations, and can’t pay your bills, it would be very likely that you will blame the board of trustees because they did not help you, and that they had you working under such a hardship in the first place. To add insult to injury, you can bet that should you not raise your own salary, the leadership will likely penalize you anyway for not meeting your “quota.”
Will the best development professionals choose to work in an environment of such insecurity? I think not. Organizations that force development professionals into insecure positions will find their development operations staffed by the less experienced and less capable. And they will lose quickly those who gain experience and develop greater competency.
And what happens when they leave? Remember, such an organization’s relationships with its donors are in the hands of its staff, not its leadership. Will those donors transfer their relationships to the new staff member, or will they move on with the departing staff member? If I were the executive director or trustee of a non-profit organization, that is not a question I would like to find myself facing.
Fund-Raising Is A Shared Responsibility
For Everyone In The Organization
I am tempted here to go into all the reasons why solicitations should not be made by development staff, but by peers of prospects. But that would only distract us from the narrower issue of raising your own salary. (Besides, I’ve got the topic of who the true fundraisers in your organization should be covered by the article listed and linked below.) Suffice it to say that all the arguments against asking staff to be solicitors hold even more strongly when it comes to forcing them to solicit their salaries. No competent professional should be forced to beg for her or his pay, and no prospective donor should be approached by someone asking for money that will go into her or his pocket. As a matter of fact, in the latter instance, it’s common knowledge that most funding sources will not give money in support of a named individual—you. Work to convince your leadership that you will have no success whatever when asking foundation officers and corporate contributions managers for money to pay your salary.
No one ever said that fund-raising was easy. It takes belief in the cause and persistent hard work to be successful. That belief and hard work must begin with an organization’s volunteer leadership. Trustees who do not understand the need to develop a fully professional development operation doom their organization’s fund-raising efforts. Key to developing such an operation is the realization that fund-raising is an integrated part of the organization. Asking development staff to raise their own salaries outside of the organization’s regular budgeting process, places development efforts outside of the organization’s core.
Development officers who agree to work in an environment where they raise salaries in a separate campaign do a disservice to the organization. They allow malfunctioning trustees to continue to shirk their responsibilities. Compensation for development staff must be part of an organization’s regular annual budget. The organization that does otherwise hamstrings its operations today and its sustainability in the future.
So what if you, after all, are successful, and do raise your own salary? You can be sure that the board will not pitch in to help raise the “other” money needed to operate the organization. After all, when you raise your own salary and they see that you are a proven, effective and successful “fund-raiser,” they’ll no doubt believe that you can personally raise much more of what the organization needs without them.
I am a fundraiser and an executive director with 25+ years of nonprofit resource development experience. If we expect other staff to reach goals related to their job or risk losing their job, why is it not the same for fund development people. Their job is to raise funds. If they don’t raise even enough to pay their own salary how does an organization afford to keep them on board?
If I had a project manager who couldn’t keep projects organized then I would not keep them. If I had a fundraiser who could raise the minimum of funds, should I not also ask them to leave?
How do you set your fundraising goals if not related to income – for at least part of it? Since fund raising is about building relationship, wouldn’t the lack of income indicate a lack of building relationships?
Maggie,
I’m not sure that you got the point of this article. It is addressing the issue of a development officer officially being charged with raising his or her salary. An organization should budget for it’s staff based on the need for the positions. A development officer who has to first raise his or her salary will be tempted to treat that smaller goal as more important than the larger goals or organizational needs. Fundraising goals need to be set in relationship to overall contributed income needs. If the organization has made a bad hire, then of course it should move to correct the situation.
I am a retired Development Director and Consultant, with 30+ years’ experience, and I believe that you shouldn’t threaten somebody’s position because they didn’t meet your fundraising goals. Were the goals realistic? was the timing realistic? Where were the mistakes made? communication issues?. If you have who you believe are Quality people, Give Them a Chance!!! You’ll hopefully get
devoted employees who know what’s expected.
Creative ideas , I Appreciate the insight ! Does anyone know if my business can acquire a blank IRS 1024 copy to edit ?
Hello tori applemore! my partner saw a fillable IRS 1024 copy at this site http://goo.gl/eJDOsg
Fred: You did well to obtain such a significant amount of money for your accounting process.
You raise the additional money you need in the same way. You go to family, friends, employers, etc., of your own, and those of the board members—as well not to forget their own personal gifts.
Depending upon the point at which you are at regarding official IRS recognition, and that of your state government, be sure that any donations are tax-deductible, and if not, since you are in the "filing" stage, you must let anyone know from whom you are seeking money that their gifts may not be tax-deductible. You should check this out with the appropriate officials.
Since the $850 amount appears to be a daunting challenge at this stage, you and your board must work to think, plan, and execute the process to raise the really significant funds necessary soon to operate the organization. You must know now as best you can from where will come the money you will need later.
To that suggestion, you may want to begin with a reading of my article:
— Know Your Organization
http://www.raise-funds.com/1999/know-your-organization/
Then, I urge that you select, read, and use any other of the many articles we have posted.
They will assist you in good measure to be in position to totally know the fund-raising process in total, and how to make it work for your organization.
Hello Sir: we have a 501c-3 not for profit organization and spent $,2500 for board member training in Quick Books and Bookkeeping training.How can we rasie the $850.00 we need to file with IRS for our federal tax exempt status Mr Poderis ?
Lucy,
I will first refer to the end of your e-mail:
There is simply no logic to their thinking. As a matter of fact, they are not even thinking.
Having no development experience, and being expected to head up the development activity, is surely an impossible position in which to be.
Needing to raise your own salary on top of that, strongly suggests to me that you find a way to walk away.
During my nearly forty years as a non-profit fund-raising professional, I truly rarely ever had to say “never,” but from what you have reported, the entire deck is stacked against you.
The “faith walk” preaching for you to follow, is utter nonsense from those whom are thoughtless. The fund-raising activity should have everything to do with the board having faith in their organization’s ability to deliver the good it does. That’s where the trust can only be. It is foolish and totally wrong for the board to put such a burden on you. It is their responsibility to raise the money.
The failed and failing experiences you have with asking for money on your own behalf to pay your salary, is not surprising, and it has nothing at all to do with your worth and good character. It simply does not come off as the right thing for people to put their money to a use other than wanting to support the mission of the organization directly. And while you are trying to raise money for your own livelihood, there cannot be much of a chance for the raising of additional money in the quantity needed for what the organization does now, much less to meet future needs.
You should not be on the board in the first place if you are a staff person. The board has oversight and management of the staff. But, that is the least of your problems there.
If there is any proving to be done, it’s the board which must prove it is a worthy board. It must be an intelligent board, a responsible board. The board of trustees must live up to its name: that it is "entrusted" to ensure the vitality and financial health of the organization. Putting that burden, those responsibilities, on the back of a anyone else, is next to being totally irresponsible, and may I say, as wrong headed as any group can be.
Your Comment above follows my article which is self-explaining. But, here is the link anyway, and I urge you to see if you can send the link to just one person in charge who could be understanding and practical to know how totally wrong the attitude of the board is. Understand that I am not patting myself on the back regarding the article, but for the life of me I cannot understand how anyone leader of any organization, upon reading it, could put someone like you in a position like that. Having them have you raise your own salary defies all rules of common sense and reason.
And the second article listed below may help as well.
— When The Development Officer Is Obliged To Raise Her Or His Own Salary
http://www.raise-funds.com/2005/when-the-development-officer-is-obliged-to-raise-her-or-his-own-salary/
— Who Should Raise The Money From Within Your Organization?
http://www.raise-funds.com/2004/who-should-raise-the-money-from-within-your-organization/
I was asked to be a part of a non-profit 501(c)3 to head up development. I do not have experience and have been asked to raise my own support. The reason for the two comments mentioned: "No one has any experience when the organization began and it is doing well; raising your own support shows others and the Board that you are on a faith walk, trusting that those who believe in you will walk alongside you." I have received a handful of responses from my support letter…I have also experienced that those who may have given the organziation in the future is now questioning why I need to raise my own support, therefore some have point blank said no, one has ignored the "ask" every time we meet, and one gave a small amount compared to what they are able to. I was also asked to come on board with an agreement that was changed once I got here…I was told that I needed to prove to the Board that I was going to benefit the organization before I would get any compnesation. It has been two months, working on my third, and need advice as to what to do. I am loving your book and appreciate so much what I am learning from it. On a side note, as bad as this all sounds, I know that I am not dealing with evil people who take advantage of others…this organization gives like no other I have seen, but am confused at some of their logic in thinking. Thank you in advance for your time!
Pam: I see where my help may be next to impossible to convince your boss that he risks losing a valued staff member, and that no replacement for you would ever be able to work the scheme he is insisting upon. They either would not take the job in the first place, or if they did, and worked on that basis, they would fail.
Being belittled in such a setting—any setting—is not at all near as bad as having you experience the anxiety and stress you would work under, should that totally unworkable situation be enforced on you.
I can understand how your boss could come up with such an idea, then to have a chance to hear good common sense why working for your salary will not work. But to give that edict in the company of the development steering committee where you have no chance to respond, is bad management.
Were there any of those committee members which spoke up against this very bad idea? If not, you need to find a few who may know better but did not speak up at the meeting.
How do you get the message across that such a situation will never work for you and for the organization?
Exactly by using the irrefutable argument I have made in the article above, which you have read.
You must find a way to get the message and points I make in the article in front of your boss and, without going behind his back, find a way for the development steering committee to know the facts that having you work for your salary, is the worst possible idea. I give plenty of good reasons why. Use them.
There is a major difference between the selling of automobiles and health services. A car salesperson has the responsibility to make sure her or his customers got full value for the dollars they spent.
When you are “selling” health services, you have the responsibility for helping to keep a community asset healthy and strong for succeeding generations. It’s that simple.
One is about value and the other is about what we value in life.
My ED/boss and I were in a development committee meeting and he told the committee that I had to earn my salary and disclosed my salary to them. This made me feel extremely belittled, like I was a used car salesperson who was hired on commission or something.