dataIdeal Non-Profit Fund Raising Tips

Congratulations! You have been asked to join a nonprofit Board of Trustees. That is certainly an honor, but it comes with many caveats and responsibilities you should know before you accept. You should know that beyond the demands on your time, there may also be demands on your financial resources far beyond your capacity to anticipate them. This article will give you a thorough checklist of the things you need to analyze.

1. What is the culture of the Board? Is it an active Board that challenges the Executive Director on recommendations and points of policy, or is it a passive Board that takes its marching orders from the Executive Director. Ask to see minutes of past meetings, and if you see that each motion was passed unanimously, you can conclude that the Board all plays to the same drummer. On the other hand, if the minutes reflect spirited debate, and a split vote, they you can assume you are being asked to join a Board that takes the lead in setting directions.

2. Who is on the Board? Is there anybody you know well enough to discuss your prospective appointment? Are there people on the Board you do not like? How do you see your personality engaging with the Executive Director's? Is the Executive Director a member of the Board (not recommended)? Is there a rapid turnover on the Board with former members not serving their full terms? Do you perceive the Board as composed of people who were selected for their talents, or because of the financial contributions they give?

3. Does the nonprofit have a lot of money? While this may be an asset to the nonprofit, it can be a substantial liability to you personally. When you go on a nonprofit Board, you assume 'fiduciary responsibility.? That means that if something goes terribly wrong, and the consequences involve substantial losses for the nonprofit, you can be held personally liable, along with your other Board members, up to their ability to pay. That means, for example, that if there is a loss of money due to neglect or malfeasance, you and your colleagues on the Board can be ordered to make it right.

4. Additionally, this doctrine of fiduciary responsibility extends into the management of any endowment or retirement assets that the Board manages. Be sure the Board has an 'Investment Committee? composed of highly qualified financial professionals (they do not have to be members of the Board) who meet regularly to review the performance of the funds in their care.

5. Be sure that any funds are being managed professionally by people chosen by your Investment Committee. In their contracts, it should be clearly stated that they assume fiduciary responsibility for the preservation and growth of those funds. More about the functions of this Committee in a future article.

6. Insist on a full orientation. Meet members of the staff. Talk with other Board members. Tour the facilities. Examine the financials. Most important, be perfectly clear about what is expected of you as a member of the Board.

7. If you do not have the time, or you know you will not be able to attend the Board meetings regularly, or participate in whatever committees you join, do not accept the appointment to the Board. It deprives the nonprofit of your talents, and greatly exposes you to any liability that may arise as a consequence of the Board not exercising oversight.

If you can satisfy yourself that the costs and liability are not too great for you to assume, join the Board and enjoy doing an important act of selfless commitment.

Do you find yourself looking at the mountain of paper on your desk every morning and automatically think 'Uggghhh, I'll sort this out later?, or 'I'll do it after lunch? or 'how did these get here?? What about the time you have to use brute force to close the back closet because it's full of knick-knacks and old things? Same thing? Well, as much as you can push the deadline for organizing day after day, it will come to a point where you have to deal with it. At work, it might be due to a document that you need to find urgently or you're toast. At home, it might be as crucial as having fire hazards in your garage or as basic as not having space to store anything anymore.

Face it. Procrastination does not do anybody any good ? you're just delaying the inevitable and will only lead to more things to do. You really need to discipline yourself to avoid mountains of clutter from rising. So how do you start?

First, admit that you have a problem. Wishing alone will not make the clutter go away on its own. Yes it's true that not filing paperwork or sorting out old things to a later date is freeing you from work now. But when it becomes a mini-mountain of files and clutter, chances are the ten-minute sorting time you needed in the first place became ten times more. The more it grows, the more reluctant you will be to start doing it.

Next, take a deep breath, get up and do the work. Do it even if you have to start the first few minutes gritting your teeth while working. The important thing is to for you to start. Slowly, you'll see that your mountain will become a hill; then a small mound; until at last, it's all gone! Not only will you get additional space, you will really feel satisfied.

Now that you know the hard work doing that entails, keep it in mind. Remember that you didn't have to do it in the first place if you've just taken time out to file that memo or throw out that broken toy, etc. So, the next time you're tempted to pile things again, just remember how long it took for you to clear up a mountain of work away!

Procrastination is destructive. It can cost you the promotion you've always wanted in your job. It can make your family get tired of you and your excuses. And above all, it can make you the person whom nobody would like to work with. Don't let these things happen to you. Address your tendency to procrastinate right this minute!

We know a good company name is very important. Some would even spend a tidy sum to get a renowned marketing research company to discover a good brand name to synergize the name of product/service with the market place. A few of us might even consult a geomancer (aka feng shui master) to ascertain that our personal name and company names are auspiciously congruent with the elements! Yet, many shun away from investing in a decent company logo design. Instead of going to a branding expert, marketing specialist or graphic designer, many run to a local printer whose specialty is print production, to do a logo design and quickly whip up their letterheads and other stationery.

Recently, my designer friend was infuriated with a distant cousin's request to create a logo design plus a set of stationary comprising business card, letterhead and invoice for under USD150. While I can empathize with her outrage, but honestly, a Google search will yields thousands of websites offering cheap logo design, as low as USD39.

You probably can get an original design done at such price but I cannot imagine how you can get one that truly reflects your corporate persona. And that is so important. You might also get a royalty-free clip art icon for a logo, which means it cannot be copyright and, somewhere, someone, might be using the same icon that you so proudly put on your name card, signboard, paper bags! Or you could get a design that is modified from an established template that is being recycled endlessly. One other possibility is for the logo designer to up-sell you when you sign on the dotted line. This means you would have to pay extra for the other necessities. To illustrate, you might be asked to pay for an extra artwork for the logo to be rendered in black-white, or you need to pay for the logo usage guide to state all the specifications that you'll need to produce a brochure or TVC later on. If you are offered a really, really low price, you must know what you are paying for.

How much should you pay for a company logo design? Ask that question to any Fortune 500 company and you might just get an astronomical figure. To us folks that firmly believe a logo forms a formidable part in the formation of the corporate persona, corporate branding, marketing and public relations; the logo is definitely much more than just an illustration or graphics! You have to pay for research, concept, design assembly and production execution. Your hired help has to look into your corporate mission, philosophy, beliefs, objective, goals, and aspiration just to understand your company, and probably you if you are the boss. Without such in-depth understanding, the logo experts will not be able to translate any corporate values into a coherent, creative graphics. The logo will be soulless.

Did you know the winged logo of Nike has a story behind it? It is fashioned after the Greek Goddess Nike who personified triumph and victory. Her wings supposedly signify the fleeting nature of victory. Now, can you see the relation and association between Nike the sports good company and Nike the Goddess? Even the expert and the client agreed on the concept wing, but how should the wing look? Should it be Pegasus? spreading wings or something more stylized as seen on the logo of Singapore Airlines? The marketing and creative people would have had to burn much midnight oil to come out with a concept that fit the overall corporate persona and branding. When the concept is worked out, skilled designers will still have to spend long hours working on their Macintoshes to translate that idea into a finished product that we can see, feel and touch. But even then, the job is not done. The next important task is to create a Logo Guide in which every conceivable application and usage of the logo is described, be it at the top of your building or as small as the engraving on your pen, whether it is printed in full colour or in black or applied with a hot-stamp. And so on, and so forth

So much work? Yes, it is that much work. After all, your logo design is supposed to help you:
- Elicit immediate recognition (especially if the company has a common sort of name)
- a visual short-cut to convey the company's personality, character or attitude (in short, corporate persona)
- Relate to your clients by conveying a feeling of familiarity and credibility
- Association with quality and satisfaction

You might like to have a further understanding on the importance of a logo, which is discussed in another article, "Why Logo is That Important" .

Depending on whom you hire, the fees will vary. However, it is safe to say you would most likely be charged based on:
- the experience and reputation of the logo design expert. (Branding Expert, Advertising Agency, Graphic Designer and Freelancer all command different price tags)
- the size and budget of your company (the bigger you are, the more comprehensive your needs will be)
- the scope of work involved.

And, please, please understand that you might be charged a new fee (and not an add-on nominal extra fee) should you change your brief or direction after the logo design expert has started his work.

Always get a logo that can reflect your coorporate branding and persona. Talk to several respectable creative agencies or freelance logo designers and hire the one that understood you best. Only then should you discuss the price. Bear in mind that if you want the branding works, be prepared to fork out at least USD10,000 and more (and that is considered cheap). If you want a professional logo design package that calls for original design, production guide on all imaginable surfaces, all workable softcopy files for print and web plus full release of all font and graphical elements, you are looking at least USD20,000 and up. If you are a start up or small business owner, tell the logo design expert specifically what you want and don't want. Be honest and frank about your budget. They will work out a respectable looking logo that fits your needs, and most probably would meet some (if not all) of your branding criteria. This can range anywhere from USD200 to USD2000. Even at this price, make sure you negotiate and get the correct files and releases, you do not want to end up getting a second designer to do a touch up on a supposedly ready-for-production logo version.

Lastly, don't lose the logo files you were given. This is no joke. My client lost his logo files and I had to get my people to manually trace a 16KB 72dpi logo, horrendously printed on a Micosoft Word document; and do touch-up. Then, we had to re-match the logo colours using both CMYK and Pantone PMS and then finally to convert it into a vector file! You don't want to waste time, effort and money this way!