
Re-Imagining Major Gifts – Book Review
February 7, 2024
Jimmy LaRose Review – Enemy or Champion of Nonprofits?
February 22, 2024Reimagining Philanthropy – Book Review looks at the upcoming third edition of Jimmy LaRose’s best selling book, Re-Imagining Philanthropy: Charities need your mind more than your money.
Well, Jimmy Larose has done it again, he never ceases to amaze me! His RIP Quizzes in each chapter of this book, are sure to make you sit up and think. And maybe even to awaken some thoughts you never thought you’d have about your nonprofit or your giving to nonprofits. And no, RIP does not mean Rest in Peace in this case, in fact you’ll probably do anything but rest or be at peace with your nonprofit after reading this book.
First, he begins with a concept I think most of us can agree with—your nonprofit needs to dream but that dream must be backed up with a plan for fulfilling your dream. He reminds readers, or informs them if they are not familiar with these statistics, that nonprofits are the third largest industry in the United States and employ more than ten million people. We must remember that we are a force to be reckoned with!
I agree with Jimmy and with Dan Pallotta that the way we think about charity is wrong! This book will help philanthropists choose the charities they should support, but it also will help charities realize what they need to do to become one of “the chosen.”
He reminds nonprofits that they have four sources of income—public funding, philanthropy, sales, and fees for service. Not all charities use all these methods, but all have, or should have, one thing in common–philanthropy.
Now, let’s get into Jimmy’s controversial statements: your donors are your customers, money is more important than mission, our nonprofit systems are broken, we need to rethink the role of the CEO and the role of the board, and nonprofits need to focus on capacity building. “What,” you say, “isn’t serving our clients our number one priority—where do they come into this mix?” Jimmy tells us quite a few stories throughout this book about agencies who were able to better serve their clients because they followed his advice on these controversial areas:
Why are donors our customers? Because they are the ones we need to sell, to market our services to, to keep them so happy that they tell others about our great nonprofit.
How can money be more important than mission? Because without money, there is no mission—no staff, no facility, no program.
Our nonprofit system is broken—I refuse to even use the word charity because of the negative connotation it has—“Oh, that poor nonprofit, I feel obligated to give them money because they’re standing on the street corner with hat in hand.” How is it broken? Let us count the ways:
- Boards are running the show, the CEO usually comes from the program area, so they know little or nothing about running an organization.
- Board members are selected for the wrong reasons.
- Nonprofits don’t understand the role of consultants and volunteers.
- The statistics show that while 90 percent of nonprofits have mission statements (not sure if the other 10 percent are living in a cave somewhere. And those who do have one, don’t understand what a mission statement really is.
- Even scarier, only 50 percent have a vision. What are the other 50 percent selling to their donors? “We are a great organization, we need money, you have money, so give us some?”
- And even worse, only 30 percent have a strategic plan, and even scarier, only 12 percent have a development plan. So, are the rest just winging it from day to day and hope everything works out because “We do such great work.”
I would say from these statistics alone, it is obvious that our systems are broken.
But Jimmy goes on to explain how boards are broken, in so many ways. How an organization recruits board members needs to change. No more “He’s a nice guy, let put him on our board,” “She has money and knows people with money, let’s grab her.” And board expectations are not correct and/or are not communicated well. Let’s stop expecting boards to run our organizations, to raise money, and to direct staff. And let’s stop expecting them to be the chief fundraisers for our organizations, I loved Jimmy’s quote about “Stop trying to teach a pig to sing—it wears you out and really annoys the pig.” So, whose job is running the organization and making sure it is adequately funded? The CEO. Jimmy proves to readers that the organizations that are the most successful at fulfilling their mission and achieving their vision, are those with a strong CEO. It is the CEO’s job to build capacity by ensuring that fundraising is their number one priority. If you don’t believe this is true, look at some of the major universities—are their presidents coming from the academic side, or are they proven fundraisers? Or look at a major nonprofit hospital—is their CEO a doctor? No, it is someone with proven managerial and fundraising expertise.
And what about hiring consultants—are nonprofits hiring consultants to do the work the CEO should be doing—cultivating donors, planning, evaluating programs, finances, and development. Yes, there are roles for consultants such as guiding and helping you learn how to do planning and evaluation, but cultivating donors through feasibility studies is not the role of a consultant. There is a better way to do it, and you will learn these ways after you read this book. Jimmy takes you step-by-step through the process of changing your nonprofit from a broken mess to an effective, efficient, even stellar organization. You will see after reading this book that it’s simple–honest.
Reimagining Philanthropy – Book Review was first posted at Linda Lysakowski
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