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Question: I am Treasurer for a small 501(c)(3), celebrating our 80th Anniv, 3 yrs nonprofit. We provide workshops, master classes, lunch talks, competitions, scholarships, etc to those studying & entering careers that support primary composer for TV/Film, vid games, live performances, etc; the supporting roles of orchestration, music arranging & adaptation are crucial to a production, but these positions are seldom recognized, credited or appreciated. Our members learn from working professionals, many who are also longtime members, in an environment of mutual support, comraderie, appreciation, with mentorships, etc.
With just one part-time indep.contractor for admin & event planning (who attends all board mtgs!), and part-time website mgr, the few active board members are greatly taxed, physically & financially! We are behind the times, as far as fundraising, promo, development, pr, marketing, with no real donor database or retention techniques & no membership campaign. We have no 'for profit’ counterpart & no Exec Dir, so Board members are continually asked (by the one pd person) to do more, give more, working just to scrape by.
Suffice to say, nobody has proper nonprofit experience, so the same gal who has 'run' our ‘society’ for decades, continues with same methods, old fashioned auctions & methods with our one annual fundraiser, honoring a big name composer/arranger or two, yet we see very little profit due to big expenses, poor management of time & funds, no ‘in kind’ goods or services in place, retail spending, when we should be raising quite a profit, with name people; all smaller events are run the same, just as 30 yrs ago! Nobody is looking into grants or big sponsors, Development, or building a donor database & retention marketing plan or diversity within the board. The Board is very lax & ill informed on nonprofit policy, procedure, protocol. It's exhausting, on top of my own full time job & caretaking of mom!
If we could get funds for a knowledgeable, competent staff; and initiate new methods, we’d be off & running!

My question:
Is there an agency or community resources for someone to speak to the board; perhaps, to make a basic presentation on the importance of diversity, of having all these systems in place; keeping up with & learning from other, successful nonprofits? (Using mobile apps, software system for NP donor database & retention). One agency gave a sales pitch for items we don’t need, so several old time board members have a bad taste in their mouths about new things.
Are there orgs, that might come once to educate our board as to what we may need, where we might look, in order to help us grow into a relevant 21st century society/org that can really be a valuable source to our community & beyond. We did one FB livestream, which was very successful. The one gal we pay, has basically been running the org for 30 yrs, as it started out, more of an elite club for members to gather for lunch & camaraderie.
We have started to introduce many new offerings, events & competitions with the younger members to honor these ‘behind the scenes' positions, indispensable to a production. But, the older members are fighting tooth & nail.
I've read & researched for a year & the old timers don't want to hear about 'slick' marketing techniques, etc. We've lost some of young, new members. So I’d like to have a leading respected community member, or nonprofit advisor reinforce the need to focus on the basics, feedback to our Mission Statement, as we can offer such a unique situation & access to the guys & gals, actually, working in the business!
I'm continuing with the legacy of my father, once involved with this org, and himself, once a wonderful composer. Here's hoping I can get recommendations for the great people in this organization.
Thanks very much!
Jill
Answer:

           ... Thank you for writing to us at the Community Tool Box with your detailed question. We understand and appreciate your deep involvement and personal caring for your organization.

 

            As we read your question, we think this is a case where your group would benefit from a retreat, hopefully off site, with plenty of lead time, prep time, and retreat time, and with the well-communicated, set-in-advance, and agreed-to goal of sorting out some of the current key issues facing the group, some of which you name. If members can get behind this much, that's a definite plus.

 

            You would want a good facilitator, or session leader. There are plenty of them. It's not our role to recommend specific names. But what we can suggest is that your leader should be a highly-regarded neutral person, acceptable to different interests within the organization, and perhaps best chosen by a smaller group representing those different interests. This seems consistent with what the questioner has in mind. To hire the right person might cost some $$, but this is a situation where it could be well worth it.

 

            We hope these suggestions may be useful to you.  Thanks again for writing, and all best wishes for many continued successes for your organization in the future.

Question Date: Sat, 04/07/2018