Tag Archives: Executive Director

6 Last Minute Ways to Show Your Donors Love for Valentine’s Day

Show your donor love
  1. Take a picture of a recipient/member holding a heart. Email it with a note wishing them a Happy Valentine’s Day and thanking them for showing your organization the love.
  2. Create an infographic with a few ways that their gift and love for your organization made an impact this year.
  3. Email Galantine’s Day cards to each female donor telling them how their friendship and support has impacted the organization.
  4. Email a list of your top 10 movies that you love and thought they might enjoy.
  5. Send a list of Valentine’s Day inspired cocktails they might appreciate as much as you appreciate their gifts.
  6. Email a video of your Executive Director to show your donors love and appreciation for the donor’s support.

This is just a starting point.

How will you use this holiday to show your donors love?

7 Things To Do When Your Nonprofit’s Executive Director Gives Notice

Your Executive Director (or Development Director, COO, CFO, etc) just gave notice. What do you do?

Executive Director Gives Notice
  1. Panic! Or don’t. It may be scary to lose a valuable senior executive. But, you can use this opportunity to strengthen your nonprofit.
  2. Assess your situation. Whether you do this on your own or use a firm like MJA, take the time to understand your entire organization and the skills of those who remain. Was your Executive Director amazing at operations but, then, trained other people to do operations management? That would make hiring someone with the same skill set redundant. Unless that skill set is fundraising. You can never have too many fundraisers.
  3. Create your process. Steps may include interviewing current staff, developing a job description, posting it, reviewing candidates resumes, pre-screening candidates for in-person interviews, interviewing candidates, checking references, and negotiating with your top choice.
  4. Consider who should be involved in the planning and implementation of the hiring process. Who should be writing, reviewing and/or posting the job description? Who will go through the 100s of resumes?  (Job sites encourage people to post far outside their roles because from their perspective – you never know.) Does that person know how to narrow down the list to appropriate candidates? What skills are transferable? Who should be in the room with each candidate at every step?
  5. Decide if you want to hire us (or another executive search team). Nothing is free. Doing executive search in-house may seem low cost, but your staff and board will be consumed with this instead of raising money, understanding your data, improving program initiatives, etc.,…
  6. Question whether you need a fractional/interim person. It may take you months to find the best executive director to help your nonprofit succeed. Sometimes you are better off hiring an interim ED (DD/COO/CFO, etc.) to keep the trains moving while you assess your situation. That person may be a candidate, it may be someone who is not looking for long-term, full-time work but supports your mission, or it may be a nonprofit consultant – get in touch if you would like to talk about how MJA can help you in the short term.
  7. Feel good. If you know how you will replace this valuable staff member, you can look forward to a new chapter for your organization. Stop thinking that when an executive director gives notice it is a tragedy. Your nonprofit will get over this hiccup and move forward stronger than ever.

*** If you really want to decrease stress, create this “emergency” transition plan even before anyone gives notice.

Want to learn more about our executive search services? Click here

Recent Executive Search Placements

We are proud to have helped the following organizations meet their needs with the following executive search placements:

Senior Director of Teen Engagement

Dana Prottas is an experienced educational leader who came to USCJ from Minnesota where she was the Director of Yachad, the Jewish Education Program for Teens. There she built collaborative communities with an entrepreneurial spirit. She is committed to social, academic, cognitive and spiritual growth mindsets for youth and adults.

Chief Development Officer

Kippy Rudy has held leadership positions in marketing and development throughout Maine, leading campaigns raising more than $10 million at Portland Stage Company, Portland Museum of Art, and the Bowdoin International Music Festival. She relocated to Boston to serve as the deputy director of MASS Creative, where she oversaw the legal, financial and administrative aspects of the organization.

Director of Advancement

Betsy Santarlasci comes to Daily Table with more than 25 years of experience with non-profit fundraising. She hails from Providence, Rhode Island where she served as the Development Director and Food Initiative Director of the Social Enterprise Greenhouse (SEG.)

Executive Director

Jamie Cotel comes to JCAM with many years of experience in the non-profit world. She was the Executive Director of the Community Alliance for Jewish-Affiliated Cemeteries (CAJAC) in New York. Her work had a significant impact on the restoration and preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in New York and elsewhere.

Director of Development

Shawn Cote is an experienced business, fundraising and development professional with an advanced degree in sports leadership. He has worked as a Leadership Gift Officer at Bentley University and was the Director of Major Gifts for the Athletic Department at Northeastern University.

Development Director

Linda Myers is a seasoned development executive with experience in both the Jewish and secular nonprofit community. She spent most of her career in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, working with the Schools of Drama and Music at Carnegie-Mellon University and Pittsburgh’s Edward and Rose Berman Hillel Jewish University Center. She returns to South Florida where she had previously resided.

See Current Listings here Learn about our Executive Search Services here Want to speak to someone about an executive search for your nonprofit? Call 800.361.8689 or click here to email David A. Mersky

How Many Donors Does Your Nonprofit Need? Look at Your Solicitor Pool

Solicitor Pool

If you are considering how many solicitors you need, you probably don’t have enough. You are probably relying on the Executive Director, a development staff member or two, and/or a few key board members. And, maybe that has worked for the past few years – Executive Directors can be incredibly effective fundraisers. But you may be only one resignation away from a dramatic decline. It is time to increase your solicitor pool.

In the same way you don’t want to be over-reliant on a few major donors, you don’t want to put all of your solicitations in too few hands.

How do you expand your solicitor pool?

  1. Look at your staff. Who would you trust to represent you in a meeting? Not sure if Jennifer is ready? Bring her along as a second solicitor during a few meetings with longtime donors. Make it clear, ahead of time, the role she will play and where she can strategically add to the conversation. Please don’t have her sitting and observing the whole time – that will not test her skills, it make everyone feel uncomfortable, and leave the donor(s) wondering why Jennifer was there at all.
  2. Ask your board members if they will help. Ask them one-on-one, not in a group setting. Don’t assume they will say no. And encourage people to get involved at any level that will be helpful to you.
    1. Some people might be willing to solicit, if trained.
    2. Others might be willing to help you set up appointments (often time consuming for the solicitor) and join in if someone else will make the ask. Overtime, that might change, but for the moment you will have someone helping you with the initial, time-consuming piece of an ask.
    3. Another few might be willing to ask at a small group event. Encourage your board to get involved with fundraising any way they choose.
  3. Invite committee members to participate. Obviously, the first place to start is the development committee. But, someone who understands the finances might be willing to help with a fact driven ask. And a person who is focused on funding for a particular program might be willing to ask individuals to support it. *
  4. Talk to your donors. Longtime supporters might be willing to ask others to join them with their own gift – especially if they already know them. Those cocktail party conversations might provide more connections and donations than you expected.

*Only encourage funding for a program that is an organizational priority. Creating a program because you received funding is a slippery slope that often leaves you in debt. Get in touch if you want to learn more about how I learned this the hard way.

Want to read more about increasing your donor base?