Advice: Forum for Equality

This past week I received notice through a weekly email publication I receive called, the Gay and Lesbian SmartBrief for news and topics of interest to leaders in the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender civil rights movement. The publication is a service outgrowth of the Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institutue and funding is provided by the Victory Fund (a PAC - I think). Anyway, my favorite section is keeping up to date on current job openings, pay rates bases on open positions, etc. This week the Forum for Equality in New Orleans posted a job for a Field Director position that I decided to apply for (for practice sake and to get an idea of what pay they are truly willing to offer for the statewide position that will be involved in building a grassroots and advocacy/information network across the state of Louisiana).

Long story short, why not use this opportunity to do a little Guidestar research on the organization and think through the kind of volunteer/ donative advice I might give to the organization?
That being said, a few things come to mind.

Mission/Purpose/Vision and tagline:

The website, www.forumforequality.org does not provide an easy and intuitive way of ascertaining the core critical components of the organization - it's "heart" if you will of mission and how it will get to fullfilling it's heart through purpose, vision and a marketable tagline. There is no "About us" tab on the website that displays these elements of the organization or anything about its history - all elements that potential donors want to understand so that they know the impact their donation in sweat or dollar equity will have upon the community.

Furthermore, what I can find, needs to be improved.

http://www.forumforequality.com/membership.php

The mission statement needs to be laid out in a manner that includes a definitive goal (ends) and way to get there (means). Forum for Equality needs to plainly set forth that it hopes to accomplish its mission through (bulleted points in link above - ie purpose). The tagline of "working for good government and LGBT civil rights across Louisiana" needs to be more hopeful and more visioned to provide the "rallying cry" for the organization in each and every thing it does.

There are no online donation options, today that needs to be changed. As pointed out "A survey study found that people who perceive fewer obstacles to give are more likely to give (Smith & McSweeney 2007). " quoted from (Bekkers & Wiepking 2007) The public these days needs to be asked, and donations should be expected through one on one coversations wherein the individual physically hands an officer of the organization a donation (per Van Slyke 2005, Bekkers & Wiepking 2007). However, the donor still needs the option to make a donation conveniently from their home, work, or wherever they have an internet connection with minimal transaction time as the desire to give arises due to other circumstantial motivators.

A brief look at the 2007 Form 990 shows that Forum for Equality met several vulnerabilities in terms of financial health, organizational logistics, financial soundness, and therefore donative capacity.

1. 
   They pulled in contributions in the amount of $50K and entailed expenses in the amount of $62K - a deficit of about $11K for the year, of which staff and salary amounted to $38 to pay an E.D. What about the rest of staff? Even if staff is mostly volunteer, for the ED to concentrate on organizational management, another staffperson needs to assist with the volunteer capital development.
2. 
   Form 990 data for 2007 does not list major amounts from grants or top contributors to the organization other than the total amount in line 1 part 1. This indicates to me that the Forum for Equality did not get a major grant from an outside entity such as the Gill Foundation, or some other foundation (although this may be true, I cannot tell) so that most of line 1 was contributed either through a tied organization such as a 501c4 advocacy organization or PAC that partners with the 501c3 Forum for Equality and serves as part of the corporation of organizations that may make up Forum for Equality. Also top donors are not listed, indicating that top donors did not meet a certain reporting threshold through IRS regulation. So, donations need to be improved in quantity from donors and "average donations" while relationships need to be nurtured to encourage top donors to invest more highly in the organization.

In conclusion, my recommendations to Forum for Equality to improve donative and voluntary capacity are:

1. 
   Hire a development director or seek volunteer services from someone trained and a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals
2. 
   Spend a daytime retreat (or more) with the board and arrive at concise, explanatory, and vision inspiring vision, mission, purpose statements that can then be used not only in a management sense, but as discussion points with prospective donors. Further, providing a top down ethic of focus will invest volunteers in what the organization is about.
3. 
   Nurture a set of large donors, spend time and walk through what the organization does and how it does it. Invite prospective donors of large amounts to a program presentation so they can see the organization in action
4. 
   Improve website layout and functionality specific to seeking donations - allow people to donate online.
5. 
   Spend time visiting with volunteers to nurture the reason the organization exists and to encourage bringing others in to volunteer and give in other ways to the organization.
   
6. If one does not already exist, instill a give/get standard for the board of directors - encourage them to use their networks of contacts to build infrastructure for the Forum for Equality.