Working with nonprofits for over 30 years has been my greatest privilege and my greatest frustration.

During these years, I have mostly examined the sustainability of charities, which I believe to be the highest concern of both board members and staff.

An unfortunate situation (observed over and over again) often places charities at risk: frequent turnover at the board or staff level introduces different ideas and methodologies (which may or may not benefit the charity) leaving its most important fundraising asset bereft of data and the charity missing its organizational history.

For years, I felt the problem did not have a solution—due to the fluidity of staff, their varied experience, and job requirements that were not well-defined. Hence, the charity was at risk with every new development officer, executive director or board member that joined the organization.

Then, an epiphany struck.

What if the charity received a certification identifying them as being supported by documented standards, policies and procedures. It would reassure donors that staff at all levels have appropriate training to engage in donor and data management, as well as have the necessary skills to do the job at hand. Donor management software cannot be learned through trial and error.

Currently, many databases show little information other than gifts. This is not donor management or a source of information for stewardship. It’s just receipting.

The idea that a tool as important as the data management of donors is “just an administrative job” is completely wrong. I once had a fund development manager express that training was expensive. My response: “Is paying staff members to do it wrong, a cost-saving strategy?”

Poorly trained staff at any level will cost the charity valuable data. For example, how donor relationship data is retained is equally important to gift tracking. The use of handwritten notes, spreadsheets, or an individual’s memory are all inadequate yet frequently used methods.

How would certification impact a charity, and better yet, how would certification impact staff and donors?

First, the charity

To protect the charity:

Office Software and Licensing: Technical Tools

• Fund development database
• Applications purchased by the organization

The creation of a Knowledge Management System (KMS)

• The organization of all electronic files
• The organization of all electronic notes related to donors and funders
• The organization of all grant proposals
• The organization of all charity communications

File backup and frequency—What files are being backed up, and to what location? What is the frequency of backup? This may be contracted to an IT provider, but the charity needs to define what is backed up and how often.

Policies and Procedures—Utilize a KMS to manage policies, procedures and instruction sets. As one of our clients put it: “a place for everything and everything in its place.”

What are some of the policies?

• Donor Receipting
• Communications
• Stewardship
• Recording donor touchpoints: conversations, letters, In-person meetings

Job descriptions—Requirements for the job of Fund Development and Administrative staff in the Development Department to include: knowledge and/or software specific training.

Data standards

1. How different forms of giving are recorded according to government requirements.
2. Use of charity-defined keywords for rapid access to donors, giving criteria for foundations and corporations.
3. Naming strategies for campaigns to enable comparative reporting over years and events
4. How specific tasks are done to the benefit of the charity and its reporting.

As a software provider who has converted thousands of records from other donor management programs, I can confidently say that the staff who populated those databases provided little information other than donation history.

Staff benefits

• Staff training ensures skills, and not guessing
• Qualified staff are retained as goals are met, and frustration is not a factor
• Increased morale
• Increased productivity
• Access to needed documents and files vs lengthy searches
• Increased charitable dollars and better staff pay
• Increased time for donor stewardship
• Increased sustainability
• Better and easier reporting to support growth
• Continuity through staff changes
• Consistency in how data is created, recorded and housed
• Organizational history is retained
• Backup ensures no loss

Donor benefits

Confidence that the charity is efficient and effective.
Confidence that the funds a donor contributes are used by the charity to advance its mission.
Confidence that the charity operates professionally, rather than at the whim of staff or board members.
Confidence that changes are made only after careful discussion
Confidence that the charity is the best choice to receive their support among similar organizations.
Appropriate and timely communications, depending on the gift or activity.
Increased trust

Conclusion

Lack of rigour in data collection and storage will result in every new development staff member implementing whatever they have known through past situations—whether good or bad, and whether it benefits the charity or not.

This creates chaos and undermines not only the charity, but staff, as there is no strategy for success.

The activity of raising funds is much more than just asking for money. As a fund development officer, what will be your legacy when you leave the organization?

A certification, once given, would need to be maintained. This would discourage the introduction of ad hoc changes that could affect future certification reviews.

While this approach would demand work, consider the hours and data lost as new players change the playing field.

It remains to be seen, who will lead the charge to implement certification. It may require a collaborative call to action by donors, funders and governments, as they are the most invested in the effective use of a charity’s dollars.

Sharron Batsch BSc is the developer of @EASE Fund Development Software and the author of "From Chaos to Control - Build a High Performance Team Using Knowledge Management" Contact her, sharron@batschgroup.com.