FAQs From Business Executives Re: Financial Giving to Nonprofit Boards – Part I

“How much will be expected of me financially?” asked Greg. I was interviewing him in preparation for a national board training session for business executives who would be joining nonprofit boards.

Here’s my response to Greg in addition to 4 more FAQs that business people ask me related to contributions and fundraising. Look for Part II next week for the remaining FAQs on this topic.

1. What does “give/get” mean?
The “give/get” is the combination of what you contribute financially and what you fundraise from others.

2. What’s an appropriate give/get for most boards?
The amount varies widely from one board to the next. It can be $1,000 on a small neighborhood organization to millions of dollars for some of the most prominent boards, such as cultural institutions, and some of the largest, such as healthcare and education. And although the largest institutions in the US account for over 80% of nonprofit expenditures, they constitute fewer than 4% of the nation’s nonprofits. The vast majority of nonprofits have budgets under $10 million.

For nonprofits with budgets between $1 million to $10 million, the give/get is often in the range of $5,000 – $15,000, with some board members choosing to do more. Some boards set a minimum give/get, while others will give you a range.

3. When should I find out about the board’s financial expectations of me?

See continuation here…http://bit.ly/bw06vd

Taking a Bite Out of the Millennium Development Goals

The first of a series of blogs on the MDGs and how they inform CSR, community development, and leadership and learning.

With only five years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals [MDGs], UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on world leaders to attend a summit in New York on 20 – 22 September 2010 to accelerate progress towards the MDGs’ – The Call to action on the UN Website for the MDGs
 
The MDGs – adopted in 2000 as the United Nations Millennium Declaration – were the culmination of a decade of UN conferences and summits and demonstrated a global commitment to reduce extreme poverty. A series of time bound targets were established with a deadline of 2015 and the MDGs became eight simple statements with the potential to change the world:

• End Poverty and Hunger (eradicate extreme poverty and hunger)

• Universal Education (achieve universal primary education)

• Gender Equality (promote gender equality and empower women)

• Child Health (reduce child mortality)

• Maternal Health (improve maternal health)

• Combat HIV/AIDs (combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other Diseases)

• Environmental Sustainability (ensure environmental sustainability)

• Global Partnership (develop a global partnership for development)

In the past 10 years the world’s awareness of these eight key global challenges has increased dramatically. Who has not seen or heard news and profiles on micro-financing, malaria nets, accessible anti retroviral drugs, funding for maternal health, and the environment. These simple eight goals have shaped our local (think your local coffee shop and fair trade coffee), national (recent debates on maternal health funding at the G20), and international conversations. Eight simple goals that just might change the world.
 
This past month a report was released entitled `What will it take to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals? – An International Assessment’ – June 2010. It is an encouraging read. Based on a review of 50 country studies the authors conclude that the resources and the know-how necessary to achieve the MDGs exist – and some changes in approach may be needed.
 
A key message from the report is that the Goals have synergies and improvements in that one can speed up progress in others. Women and young girls are key. Ensuring girls have unfettered access to health, education and productive assets helps progress across the MDGs’ is just one statement made in the report.   A key strategy identified to accelerate progress on the MDGs lies with investing in expanded opportunities for women and girls and advancing their economic, legal and political empowerment.
 
With five years left to achieve the goals laid out in 2000, it is not just the global leaders who have a role to play in accelerating progress. Each of us as a global citizen, a national citizen, and as a corporate citizen carry a responsibility to become knowledgeable about the goals, to understand why they matter, to know the questions we need to ask, and to consider the actions we can take. The global leaders cannot do it alone.
 
The Acacia Group’s mission is to offer transformative and unique leadership development for organizations and individuals seeking to live out their global citizenship. To do this we blend knowledge from Corporate Social Responsibility, Community Development and Leadership Development and Learning to emerge new opportunities for excellence for our clients.

The Ever-Expanding Sustainable Supply Chain

Emerging and ongoing areas of business improvement have long been driven by a wide variety of business sustainability goals and objectives.  While sometimes falling under project headings of continuous improvement, business optimization or business synergies, companies across all industries have been searching for sustainable value.  Today this search has a new name and an expanded perspective beyond the internal working of the organization.

Slicing out just one area of business sustainability focus, many procurement organizations are now moving from savings to strategy by expanding their view of environmental and social responsibility actions within the supply chain.  Our sustainability consulting practice finds these companies creating strategic sourcing and procurement guidelines aligned with their business sustainability strategies. 

• Wal-Mart unveils its Sustainability Index, defining business sustainability expectations and creating opportunity for its over 100,000 suppliers.
• IBM is now requiring its 28,000 suppliers to install management systems to gather data on their energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and waste and recycling.

The next phase, beyond supplier visibility and procurement policy, is an expansion towards a multi-way conversation to promote active engagement of all key stakeholders.

Supply Chain Alignment: All business partners have input into the business sustainability direction and have equal value opportunity.

• Supplier Integration: Integrated processes with suppliers to improve communication, increase efficiency, and ensure common sustainable processes.
• Customer Expectation Translation: Sustainable product expectations clearly communicated down the supply chain to material and service providers.
• Creating supply chain management alignment begins with increased eco awareness, applied sustainability concepts, and corporate commitment.  Wal-Mart and IBM have taken the first step and laid the foundation. Building on this work, companies can add increased value through active engagement and communication with key business stakeholders. 

Whether your company is just becoming familiar with the concept of business sustainability or has been implementing sustainability concepts for years under other names, there are always more sustainable performance improvements that can help move your organization along the sustainability continuum.  Our sustainability consulting provides information and small business resources to clients of all sizes seeking to make incremental steps towards a sustainable supply chain.

No Impact Man: One Man’s Attempt to Go Off the Grid

At Be Green Packaging, we believe the planet is full of eco-conscious individuals. These people likely drive their cars to work, produce garbage, and consume electricity and water. They may feel guilty each time they are at the pump or when they forget to turn the lights off, but it is unlikely that the average consumer will make disciplined lifestyle changes.

Colin Beaven, on the other hand, decided that he wanted to change his ways. In 2006, he convinced his family to conduct a year long experiment to see if, in the twenty first century, it was possible for a family to make no net impact on the environment.
 
“Beaven swore off plastic and toxins, turned off his electricity, went organic, became a bicycle nut and tried to save the planet from environmental catastrophe.” For one year, he lived a completely self-sufficient lifestyle. “In other words, no trash, no toxins in the water, no elevators, no subway, no products in packaging, no air-conditioning, no television” (www.borders.com).
 
A few days ago, Be Green asked the question, “Could You Eliminate Plastic From Your Life?” No Impact Man shows that with some sacrifice, anything is possible. Beaven no only eliminated plastics from his life, but did so much more.
 
Beaven documented his year-long experiment in his book No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process. Beaven also created a blog to allow people who were inspired by his family’s effort, to follow suit.
  
“By the end, they discovered something surprising. Living simply wasn’t just good for the environment; it made them healthier, happier and richer in ways they’d never expected” (http://noimpactproject.org/)
 
If, after reading the book or watching the film, you feel empowered to change your lifestyle, you can participate in the No Impact Experiment. This is a one-week long “carbon cleanse” that takes place in August. “It is a chance for you to see what a difference no impact living can have on your quality of life” (http://noimpactproject.org/experiment).
 
In the 20th century, the American dream was to have two cars in every garage. Now, in the 21st century, perhaps this dream has become a bit antiquated. Why not have two bicycles in every garage and two feet on the ground as we move towards a healthier planet and a healthier population?
 
More information on Be Green Packaging can be found at www.begreenpackaging.com.
 

Be Green…Live the Color.
 
Questions/comments please email: info@begreenpackaging.com 

Community Investment Budget & Spending Trends

85% of LBG CANADA COMPANIES STATED THAT THEIR BUDGETS INCREASED OR STAYED THE SAME IN 2010 

Despite the economic turmoil experienced in 2009, only 10% of LBG Canada companies will experience a budget decrease in 2010. Fifty percent (50%) of companies stated that their community investment (CI) budgets will remain unchanged, while 35% stated that their investments would increase.
 
The fact that the total amount was either maintained or enhanced during a difficult economic period meant that average spending as a percentage of pre-tax profit increased from 0.06% in 2008 to 1.12% in 2009.
 
The reasons for a reported increase included:

• Increased profits (56%)

• Greater internal appreciation of the value of community investment (11%)

• New programs and special grants (11%)

• Increased customer requests (11%)

• Proceeds from product sales to support community programs (11%)

Of the companies that reported a decrease in their CI budget, reasons given included the weakening economy and a reduction on number of thematic areas, therefore more focused giving.  
 

65% OF COMPANIES DISCOVERED PROJECTS WITH COMMUNITY BENEFIT IN OTHER DEPARTMENTS 

 
All LBG Canada companies agree to uphold a common definition of community investment, which both enables peer-to-peer performance measurement and ensures that expectations to create community benefit are matched with each company’s need to measure performance. The line-by-line review of each company’s portfolio through the benchmarking process ensures that key definitions are all upheld and applied consistently.
 
At the same time, LBG Canada companies often discover investments from departments outside of community investment that also created community benefit, albeit not every one of these investments can be valued at 100%.
 
In 2009, 65% of LBG Canada companies discovered investments that generated community benefit housed in other departments. This was up from 45% in 2008.
 
Examples of business units/department making investments that generate community benefit:

• Marketing & Sponsorship (35%)

• Community Relations (40%)

• Regional Offices (25%)

• Health/Safety/Environment (15%)

• Human Resources (15%)

• Operations (15%)

• Executive Office (10%)

To view the Executive Summary of the report, please visit www.lbg-canada.ca.
For a copy of the Public Summary Report, please contact info@lbg-canada.ca.

Taiga Company – Sitting on the Fence about Climate Change? -podcast available

If your business has been sitting on the fence about climate change, the value of business sustainability, or mistakenly thinking that somehow your business will escape current and future environmental legislation, you may want to reconsider.   Why? Growing evidence suggests that if you don’t make a choice, others may make it for you.

 Sitting on the Fence about Climate Change podcast features new rules in the supply chain playing field.  I.B.M, Proctor and Gamble, Walmart and others are now requiring suppliers to capture data on their energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and waste and recycling.    What does this mean to unprepared organizations?  The business risks of carbon, water, and climate change disclosure takes many forms:

 •    Potential increase in operating cost
•    Potential increase in supply costs
•    Potential disruptions to supply or loss of supplier relationships
•    Potential loss of revenue or market share
•    Potential to business reputation
•    Potential inability to secure investment dollars or capital

 Water, carbon, and energy management is becoming a critical sustainable business strategy to address internal and external supply issues.  Creating supply chain management alignment through increased eco awareness, cooperative business relationships, and applied sustainability concepts can have immediate business impacts and reduce business sustainability risk.

 Listen to the podcast here.   Taiga Company provides professional consulting and business resources to business leaders seeking to make significant and sustainable improvements in their internal and external operations.