Trust Your Volunteers

This trusted docent holds the keys to our non-profit kingdom.

At almost any gathering of professionals from small non-profits you will find at least one who truly believes that her or she is the only one who can do his or her job.

In two recent cases these were directors of small museums.

They guard their keys like the Holy Grail.  Work weekends because apparently no one else can open the building and refuse to leave their volunteers in charge.

How sad.  And really how silly.  I love my job but it is not brain surgery.

We have about six trusted volunteers who have the keys and all the alarm codes and are very, very capable of running the show on any given day.

If you don't trust your volunteers to sit in your museum and greet visitors then something needs to change.

You might need to recruit better volunteers but more than likely you need to loosen your grip on the keys.

Lots of Hats

Last week I gave a Career Day talk to the students at my daughter's middle school.  I told them, truthfully, that my absolutely favorite thing about working for a small non-profit was that I got to do lots of different things every day.  In the world of cliches - this is called "Wearing Lots of Hats" or a little more negatively "Jack of All Trades and Master of None."  For me - I'll go with the hats.

The variety my job offers me is pretty amazing, from teaching five year olds in summer camp and learning to spin yarn with a drop spindle to writing federal grants, working with a top publishing company or cultivating major donors.  Every day is different and sometimes every hour is different.

Today I'm working on the newsletter, special event tickets, proofreading a book and drafting museum panels.  Later in the week I get to do a walk through of a 250 year old home for our upcoming House Tour.

I may always be a "Jack" and never a "Master" of all these trades, but the constant change and challenge of them all keep me very engaged and very grateful for the opportunity to grow.

What is the photo?  One of my favorite days at work - A Sheep to Shawl Camp.

Ask and You Shall Receive

If your mom was like my mom she spent a lot of time and effort teaching me not to ask for things.  It's rude.  Wait until you are offered.  Say no the first time and then if someone really insists you can finally take what is offered the second or third time.

My mom offers a lot.  Second, third, fourth time.  She is good at insisting.  You can politely refuse my mom a couple of times and still go home very happily with a cookie in each hand.  But not everyone is like my mom, and I suspect there are some very polite, very hungry, thirsty people out there waiting to be offered what they need.

I think there is certainly a grain of truth to my mom's philosophy.  No one likes to be around someone who is constantly asking for things.  And it does seem somehow more genteel to demurely refuse and then be talked into taking things.  But wouldn't it be easier if we all just politely asked for what we needed?

In non-profits the best way to get money is to ask for it.    And the best way to get jobs done is to ask for help.  Because we have such a small staff I need a lot of help and that means volunteers.

A few years back I learned the very important lesson of asking committee members to divide up all the wonderful ideas that get generated during their meetings and to actually commit to doing them.  Previously most of those wonderful ideas got added to the list of staff responsibilities.

For years, I've dreamed of an additional staff person on the days when I'm alone in the office.  I've been politely waiting for someone to offer their services and guess what - it never happened.  Last week I finally asked.  I asked about 20 people that I know love the Historical Society and might be willing to help and guess what - I got one!  A wonderful, professional retired woman is going to come in and be my right hand man every Monday.  Alleluiah!

I could still use someone on Tuesday and Thursday - and I'm going to keep asking.

Institutional Memory - Lunch with Carlton

I had lunch yesterday with our 92 year-old Executive Director Carlton Brownell.  I needed to pick his brain about some of the historic houses in town.  He had either played in them as a boy or had been called in to consult on them as an adult.  I brought a chicken salad sandwich to share and an hour and a half later I had all the information I needed.  Including some stories that might have been lost if Carlton hadn't shared them with me.

Carlton has served the Little Compton Historical Society in one capacity or another since 1937.

At a time when the average length of employment in a non-profit job is five years and in an environment where very small staffs need to divide their attention among dozens of responsibilities, institutional memory is worth its weight in gold.

It can be easy to dismiss or marginalize people who don't use e-mail, can't make it into the office much anymore or have a hard time hearing you on the phone.  But these people may just hold the key to your latest challenge.

Young employees and volunteers (and compared to Carlton I am young) need to recognize and listen to the experiences and advice of the older staff and volunteers who have been with their organizations for decades. It would be silly to blindly follow anyone's advice no matter what their age, but the advice from these older folks who keep the memories of your organization deserve special consideration.

Their memories may save you hours of wasted work.  They might remember who donated that unregistered object, or who made the giant anonymous gift in 1960 or where the articles of incorporation are stored.  They may steer you away from a donor who said 10 years ago "don't ever contact me again" or steer you toward a donor who said "contact me again when my grandchildren are out of college."  They will remember that they tried that great "new" idea about 20 years ago and they will remember first hand whether or not it worked and why.  They can speak for the older members of your audience and will remind you that Facebook posts and e-mails are nice but people still like a beautiful paper invitation or a thoughtfully worded "snail mail" thank you note.

It may cost you the price of a 12 inch grinder and you may need to take an extra-long lunch but making the effort to access the institutional memory of your long-time supporters will be well worth the investment.

Secrets to Success

A recent post dealt with confidentiality, today let's talk about secrets.  Same thing?  Not really.

Confidentiality is a very serious grown-up subject.  It's all about protecting your organization.  Keeping any internal nastiness behind closed doors - where it belongs.

Secrets are fun.  Secrets are about keeping a wonderful project under wraps until the big unveiling or planning a surprise party for an Executive Director's 90th birthday or even deciding on the perfect thank-you gift for your volunteer of the year.

Today was full of secrets at the Historical Society - all fun, wonderful secrets  - which made for a fun wonderful day.

And just like confidential issues should be carefully and judiciously shared with people who can help make the situation better, secrets can and should be shared with just the right group and number of people.

Today's secrets focused on the art that we will be unveiling for this summer's exhibition.  Who needs to see it ahead of time?  Who needs to be kept in the dark?

We couldn't show everyone - then it really wouldn't be a secret.

Could we show everyone connected to our organization?  Members, donors, Facebook Fans?  In this case no.  It would spoil the surprise at the Preview Party.

In the end we settled on Board Members and Committee Members, a total of about 20 people who have been sworn to secrecy but who will share their excitement and enthusiasm for the artwork, the exhibition and the companion book with their family and friends.

Everyone who learned our secrets today felt special.  Honored, trusted and connected to the organization in a very intimate and important way.  They might even be even better volunteers than they were before because of the secrets we shared.  

And if they slip and share the secret with a spouse or a best friend - no real harm is done.  The circle of support gets wider and the excitement grows.

Loose Lips

Confidentiality may not seem like a big deal for a small organization but it is.

Especially in a small town or a close knit neighborhood where everyone knows everyone else's business it's really important to learn how to mind your own.

Donor information without question should be limited to only the smallest number of people within the organization possible and should never be shared with anyone outside your organization (with the exception of approved donor recognition.)

Staff squabbles, board member faux pas, volunteer errors or temper tantrums of any kind should not make it to the sidewalk.  Even sharing stories with spouses and best friends can be dangerous  - especially if the re-telling of a juicy story would be just too tempting for them.  

Of course the real problem is that these stories are going to circulate if they get out and will hurt your organization's reputation but don't underestimate the damage a few funny stories can do to you too.  In a small community you don't have to be a detective to trace stories back to their source.

Pass it On

When good things happen for your organization - spread the news.
Post it on Facebook.  Put it on your website.  Send an e-mail to your board members and key volunteers.  Include it in your newsletter.  Write a press release.  Send a photo.

We all love good news.  When you have some pass it on.

My first boss out of college used to say "People give you money because you do good things, not because you need it."  I think she was right.  Let your people know all about the good things you do.