The Foraker Group

Whew! Decisions. Every day in every way. Life changing and insignificant – each one is called the same thing, but wow are they different. Sometimes the sheer volume of them can make even the insignificant feel hard. As humans, of course, we are always making choices – even choices that don’t feel like a choice. For many of you, your choices have a significant impact on people’s lives or on the stability of your missions. These are the choices I am thinking about at the moment – when our responsibility is always to be in a space of “leaving it better than we found it” – when all is as it should be – bigger than a person, a point in time, a single idea. These are the choices in our volatile and uncertain world I am thinking about. So how do we make these decisions in ways that reflect our job as mission stewards?

I am wrestling with this myself and so is every group we are talking to right now. In this space between what was (pandemic life) and what is to become (a new beginning), we are what scholars often call liminal space or the neutral zone. Here lies a world of possibilities and an equal number of dead ends. And our work is just this – to help people who are stewarding missions move forward from exactly the place they are. So I thought I would share a few tools you can use in your own decision-making with your team.

1. Unpack it: We love a decision matrix in our sector. Truly, in my many decades in this work, I have seen a matrix for so many things. Why do we like them? Well, because they help us unpack the challenge not just for ourselves but in a way that a group of people can dive in together and discuss their perspectives on how they see the issues and topics playing out in their collective space. The gift is not just in the categorization but in the dialog. Please hear that part especially – it is not just you at your desk unpacking things into quadrants or categories, it is the group journey that is essential. There are so many examples to choose from, but two we use are The Cynefin Framework and the Money/Mission Matrix. I encourage you to click on the Money/Mission Matrix article we published in 2018 for a step-by-step guide to using the tool. At the heart of the definition of complexity, the Cynefin Framework offers us the opportunity to understand that not all challenges are the same and, therefore, not all decisions are the right match. In its simplest form, the framework asks us to categorize our challenges so that we can then match the right amount of time, money, resources, and decisions to find a solution. I still remember my biggest “a-ha” moment upon being introduced to the framework came when I suddenly understood why so many decisions that nonprofit board and staff were making were not providing the expected results. Indeed, they had been – unknowingly – applying the same set of tools and resources to very different kinds of problems. This is the gift of so many matrix tools – the ability to dole out our energy to the places that matter the most. When in doubt, matrix it out.
2. Picture it. I love words, and in planning and decision-making they are often our go-to source of expression either in conversation or in writing. But words are imperfect because they can miss the essence of our intentions or the energy about why that decision matters to our work. So when faced with a decision, another tool is to show a picture, or paint or draw a picture that indicates what it would look like if your decisions resulted in success. This can be done by everyone finding or creating their own picture of what that success looks like for the mission and then sharing the common traits, or it can be the culmination of everyone’s ideas into one picture. You can also use this idea to track progress from where the organization is now to where you want to go together. This tool is a wonderful way to weave in a cultural context and core values and to engage everyone in the energy of why the decision matters. When in doubt, draw it out.
3. See it as a progression. Two examples might serve as our best way into this idea. First, a group has more money in savings than is prudent. A conversation begins about what to do with it. Then the conversation quickly shifts to considering an endowment. At that point, people in the room who know what that means are overwhelmed while others become frustrated. This is the perfect spot to turn the decision into a progression. In this example, we can move from a decision that jumps from one extreme to another to understanding the choices between them and viewing those choices as stepping stones from one to the next. To be more specific, the progression is savings – to a board reserve account (also a shorter-term savings but with board restrictions and policies on how it’s spent) – to longer-term investments (also with policies and spending intentions that may need advice from an outside investment professional) – to a true endowment that is held in perpetuity and where only a percentage of interest earnings are available for spending. Pulling apart the choices helps the team ask essential questions like “what are the short and long-term definitions of success,” and “how does each choice serve our mission.” It also helps the team avoid jumping too quickly to solutions and tactics that they may or may not fully understand and may be choices that differ from one another. Second, a group is interested in diversifying their board, but every time they recruit someone new they don’t stay. This group often speaks about “DEI” but has not, like many, done the deeper work to know what these words mean to them or their environment so they are frustrated that “it isn’t working.” First, of course, this is a journey that only begins and never ends – a journey for everyone on the planet and a journey for every organization. What that journey looks like for each organization and every person is different. That said, pulling the conversation into a progression can help identify where the organization can focus and find their way. Specifically, understanding the progression of inclusion to welcoming to belonging is often an eye-opener. For brevity let’s say that inclusion is about creating or holding space where people are fully able to participate, welcoming is the environment we create that people experience as inviting, and belonging is a feeling someone has about being in the environment and with the people. For most, this progression creates enormous opportunities to go deeper and ask questions that lead to different decisions than when we just smoosh the whole thing together. When in doubt, step it out.
4. Envision it. One of the trends we are encountering right now is the hesitancy to look too far ahead, and yet, as we have talked about before in a discussion about living in liminal space, it is actually envisioning the longer-term destination that helps us take the necessary leap. Every day we see the propensity to think incrementally – to fix what is immediate and in front of us. But if we are to be the best stewards of our time, money, and energy, we need to make decisions with the larger destination in mind. Engage the team with crafting (in words or pictures) a short definition of long-term success. Envisioned futures are not vision statements or goals, they help us know why success matters for the people or community we serve. It drives us forward with energy and strength. It propels us to thrive and not just survive as we move from our immediate transactional decisions closer to the transformational change we seek. When in doubt, vision it out.
5. Be it. It is also true that sometimes the best decision is to wait so you and your team have time and space to think, to grieve (if needed), to celebrate (if appropriate) – to just be where you are right now. When in doubt, space it out.

There are more ways to get to where you want to go. These are just a few. Give them a try or call us. This is the work we love to do with you.

–Laurie

Scott Crabtree, founder of Happy Brain Science, was one of our most beloved speakers at the 2019 Leadership Summit. So much so that we brought him back for the virtual 2021 Leadership Summit. He will be in Anchorage on October 26 and we are taking advantage of this opportunity to host him for a 90 minute training called Hiring, Engagement, Retention: What We Can Learn from the Science of Games. Scott will teach us how to ‘Gamify’ our nonprofits so your job candidates and employees have more fun, deliver better results, and stay with you longer. Space is limited so register today!

I have been thinking about so many conversations lately that center on exhaustion.  I said recently to a few colleagues, I am tired in a way that sleep will not fix; they nodded in a knowing way. To be clear, my tired is a tired that comes with great privilege.  I am, in this moment, only talking about the work of leading an organization like so many of you do every day.  The persistent and consistent depth and breadth of decisions with no clear answers that impact others in every way is unceasing.  I am sure this was true pre-pandemic but perhaps it is the speed, the severity, the constant need to rethink or redo the same decision as new information emerges that makes it more challenging – honestly, I am not sure.

What does seem clear is there is a pervasive need to re-find our joy, to re-find our strength- to re-find connection.  For me, that means renewing my commitments, and to refresh and reflect on my why.  There is much written about the question why– a little word with enormous power.  Indeed, its herculean strength might be just the word that is needed to re-find our strength or even get us out of the eddy of the discussions that are taking place today.

Focusing on the question why is a journey to the transformational side of the work; the bigger adaptive reasons; the anchoring response.  At the heart of my own why, I am finding all of that and more.  It seems to me that more people are asking themselves why, and in doing so are making different choices about their work roles and family dynamics. Is that true for you?  There are so many ways to explore your own personal why. Some will do it in solitude and others in prayer or meditation. Some will do it with their family and friends while others will seek a dynamic work team or a professional coach.  Every path is the right path if you take it.

Asking why can help us make decisions.  I have picked a few examples to highlight from the last few weeks at Foraker but the options are countless.   What each of these conversations have in common is the propensity to drag us into the tactics, activities, or minutia of the decision while losing sight of the very reason we are having the discussions in the first place.  I also appreciate that why conversations have the ability to pull us out of our assumptions, allowing us to tell a larger truth and side step some of the bias of our own thinking and rational.  Perhaps they will spur some new direction for your conversations, too.

The conversation about returning to work – hybrid work – remote work.

I have not met a nonprofit leader who feels confident in this decision – made or pending.  These conversations too easily turn to the preferences of a few, fears of more staff transitions based on any of the choices, or pure tactics of how and when we will enact any larger decision.  As these discussions have swirled around, I often hear more insights, more meaningful and inclusive discussions and maybe even a little more confidence from conversations that focus on the why of the choice, not the how.  If you are feeling stuck in the details or need some confidence in your decision, try these why questions:

• Why is mission served better one way or another?
• Why does it matter if the staff (or board) comes together? What is missing if they don’t?
• Why does work flow better one way or another?
• Why does a physical location matter?
• Why would your team be motivated one way or another?

Undeniably for much of the workforce, going back to what was their way of working before the pandemic is both unrealistic and undesirable. For many, the myth of how buildings make our missions more real was shattered in a good way.  We are collectively forever changed in our understanding of how work gets done and how we want to be with each other.  Some of us, myself included, deeply miss the informal connections of the workplace. The thought-partnership, the random inspiration – the impromptu laughter that all make the work more meaningful while others are more content than ever to deeply focus on their tasks and feel wonderful about their accomplishments at the end of the day.  Reconciling these into a forced choice of how we do it seems a recipe to ensure disappointment, so maybe what we get to agree on instead is why any of the choices matter.

The conversation about board giving and its role in board diversity and equity

This is a perennial conversation of course, but the more emphasis we place on conversations about diversity and equity in our board rooms the more this discussion seems to occur.  There is a lot to say on this topic of board giving as an expectation of board service and certainly a very important conversation centered in bias that suggests we need to have this conversation only when talking about a diverse board – as if diverse people necessitates a conversation about money.   Let’s turn back to the question of asking why board giving matters at all.  In many rooms board giving is not about money at all.  It is a proxy measure for commitment or even engagement – i.e. a person who is engaged and committed shows that with their time and their money (regardless of the amount or in some rooms because of the amount).  For others it is all about the money with expectations to give and /or get a specific amount. And yet for others the act of giving is an act of modeling the behavior the board wants to see in others – i.e. to be the change you want to see in the world.  And for some organizations it is about playing by the rules of others – this is when giving becomes a “have to” not a “want to” that is required in order to meet an external requirement from a funder or others.

One could argue for or against any of these rational reasons for giving but what is important about all of them is the discussion and process to know this why in the first place.  Rather than just blindly saying it is a board requirement or just determining that it is or isn’t equitable in its delivery, let’s encourage our teams to ask “why does a board giving requirement matter to your mission?” Why does it reinforce (positively or negatively) the culture of your organization? Why is it important we have this conversation as we contemplate the composition of our team?  Does a requirement of board giving reinforce assumptions or bias, or does it validate real barriers and opportunities we see as we seek the right constellation of people to move mission forward?  Only once we have stepped into these larger conversations should we move toward the right set of tactics, message, and process that makes the room a welcoming place for all.

The conversation about the purpose of strategic planning or really any kind of generative planning

For more than twenty years we have been facilitating strategic planning with groups big and small, new and long-standing, with staff and all volunteer teams.  I relish these moments in our work.  The opportunity to breathe a little slower, think a little deeper, ask the bigger questions. The magic of these gatherings almost always appears in the well-placed question or a flash of insight that elevates the whole discussion for everyone.  Admittedly we do strategic planning different than most – endeavoring to stay out of the weeds and to fully engage the wisdom in the room to reflect and learn their way forward together. What the best of these plans all have in common is an emphasis on the why far more than the when or the how.  In their expression of why they are rich in flavor but perhaps short on details; they express a deep commitment to adding public value and often they must stretch into the liminal space between what we see and where we want to go.

Mind you, I appreciate a well-appointed tactical plan that has timelines, champions and budgets, but those details can come at the expense of sucking all the energy out of a good but untested idea.  The question of why can show up in many stages of planning.  It can be part of a group’s core ideology – what Jim Collins defines the DNA of great organizations. It can be part of the fundamental questions of existence of mission in a community and a deeper connection to the founding story and the future intentions.  And, it can be the essence of a well-placed definition of success or outcome.  In effect, a strategic plan without why at the heart of every conversation is simply an exercise in tactics—not bad per se but likely not the motivation, energy, and inspiration the group needs – or you need – to thrive and not just survive.   I encourage you to make space

There are so many more conversations like these.  Ones where we feel bogged down in the details. Ones where the energy has left us simply doing the work but without spirit or energy.  If this is you or your team or your colleague – I encourage you to find the support you need to stop and lift up and hold up the why at the center.

-Laurie

Have you identified foundation and/or corporate prospects, but are unsure of how to take the next step … or if it’s even worth your time to apply?  Are you struggling with how to find corporate and foundation funders that are a real fit for your organization?

We are offering a new, virtual intensive designed to help organizations find, build relationships with, and solicit contributions from corporations and foundations who offer charitable funding.

Our new program, Fundraising Action Plan: Raising Funds from Corporations and Foundations, will focus on best practices and hands-on tools for finding and approaching businesses, foundations, corporations and other nonprofits for funding. (Note: Techniques for fundraising from individual and family donors are covered in another Foraker intensive, Fundraising Action Plan: Raising Funds from Individuals)

This Fundraising Action Plan intensive is a series of four 2-hour live webinar classes, interspersed with one-on-one virtual meetings (up to 4 hours of individual consultation and coaching time with the instructors for each participating organization!).

This is a hands-on experience that will require you to do homework and real-time work with your current and prospective funders – with the support of your team, a cohort of peers, and Foraker’s fund development experts.

You will walk away with specific tools and expert guidance customized for your organization to use immediately, including:

• A funding calendar to track current reporting dates
• An investment report for current funders
• Guidance on where and how to look for the right funders for you
• A funding opportunity worksheet to use for prospecting
• Customized relationship-building language to use for new funder prospects
• Tips for writing a strong case for support

The intensive will be offered in spring 2023 – see dates below. Applications will launch on December 1. Please send a message to egroves@forakergroup.org or acouvillion@forakergroup.org if you have any questions and/or wish to be reminded when applications open.

Overview: Culture of philanthropy and understanding what your funders want
March 27 from 10am – 12:15pm

 Win- win: Keeping your funders engaged in your work
April 10 from 10am – 12:15pm

 Prospecting 101: Finding the right new funders for your organization 
April 24 from 10am – 12:15pm

 Paving the way: Building strategic relationships with funders
May 8 from 10am – 12:15pm