- “We are a non-profit organization with annual elections, and, regrettably, one-year plans. When the new officers come in, it takes them a good six months to settle in to their jobs and become effective. Each slate of officers spends the entire treasury funding their respective year, and leaves next to nothing for the next year. Our organization’s ‘vision’ is never long-term. In short, we don’t have nineteen years of experience, but, rather, one year’s experience for nineteen years.
“The last two years' elections have been marked by particularly poor slates that were not fiscally responsible, so we’re ‘digging out’ from debts. Likewise, the last two years have seen attrition eat away at our membership numbers since new recruiting has not kept pace. We have always relied on numerous small fundraising projects plus one major special event, which lately has had very poor attendance and profits due to many new market trends and changing demographic conditions.
“Therefore, you could say we have a history of reinventing ourselves each election day and having a financial policy of ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul.’ Adding insult to injury, our members and officers have recently divided into two distinct, polar camps which preclude our even reaching an enthusiastic consensus, so, we seem to be pulling in two directions, and getting nowhere fast.”
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Volunteers without the tools to succeed are just unrealized potential on a wave of good intentions.
This Ways-And-Means Opportunities (WAMO) funding development workshop turns such good intentions into able and willing resolve. NOTHING moves an organization faster or or more surely than a force of willing and able volunteers.
WAMO principles empower individuals, organizations, and entire communities to solve their own problems without burdening the taxpayers and government. Community Foundations, Chambers of Commerce, Junior Chamber of Commerce Chapters (Jaycees), Business Councils, Merchant Associations, Societies, Clubs, and non-profit organizations of all sorts have sponsored the WAMO workshops to develop learning-and-doing environments in which financial solutions can be found and employed to solve immediate, pressing community problems.
What would happen if your organization would make this training available to your members? If you sponsored the WAMO workshop, you would create a pool of funding practitioners who could go out into your community, county, state, and, indeed, the entire nation, tapping into existing (but hidden) sources of funding -- mobilizing the private and public sectors for support -- teaching community "mice how to roar". The burdens upon your local government and private sector could be greatly reduced and your business community could become more self-sufficient. What better result could your organization produce for its members and business community?
Funding Leadership does not just happen. It must be inspired, educated, and empowered. The private and public sectors are like vinegar and water. Only one thing makes them come together: they must be ‘stirred’ with a proven successful format that utilizes much more than lectures. |
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What are the signs that you’re organization is
a ‘definite candidate’ for a Wamo Workshop?
Let’s start with your organization’s leadership: the Trustees are the designated leaders – providing guidance and keeping the trust. At the risk of sounding like a Jeff Foxworthy routine, Boards that could benefit from this workshop are easy to spot. If they are asked, “Are you decisive?” and they respond, “Well, yes and no,” you probably have a Board that is a WAMO Workshop candidate. If they can’t even reach consensus on where to meet, you probably have a Board that is a WAMO candidate. If they think a CRUT is a real short walking stick for the disabled, and your Board legal counsel agrees, they probably are a candidate.
If they think a CNB is a TV news network, they’re probably a candidate. If your Board arrives for their meeting and the staff is collectively stifling laughter together, they probably are a candidate. If your only staff is an ornate stick that the President has as a symbol of election, they are a candidate? If your Board members think ‘nonprofit’ means it’s okay to always have a deficit near the end of the year in time for annual elections, they are probably a candidate. If your Board is a candidate for this workshop, your timing is perfect since I’m letting all Board members (not bored members) attend free when they fund a staffer or two to help take them to ‘the next level’.
Next, the organization itself: analyze its demographics and psychographics. Is your membership’s average age ‘deceased’? Do two-thirds or more of the registered members ‘on your roster’ miss each regular meeting? Could your ‘collective activity’ be characterized as yelling “whoa” in a mud hole? Could your funding-to-objectives ratio be characterized as ‘taking a knife to a gunfight’? Is your recruiting more like climbing a tree, or sitting on an acorn? Do your members think a 501(C)(3) is a sporty BMW? If the last time your nonprofit corporation was in ‘good standing’ with the Secretary of State preceded the moon landing, your organization is definitely a candidate for a WAMO Workshop? If the closest your organization has gotten to a grant lately, is a fifty dollar bill, your organization is a candidate for a WAMO Workshop? If the closest your organization has gotten to a fifty dollar bill was last month's phone company invoice, your organization is a candidate. If your organization's web site is a spider-populated closet with a safe that hasn’t been used since the Korean War, your organization is definitely a candidate for a WAMO Workshop?
Next, the community: what are they saying (or not saying)? Is the community saying “Whatever happened to the so-and-so organization?” or worse yet, “who’s the so-and-so organization?” Has your organization received a single ‘thank you’ letter in the last six months? Six years? Has anyone ever listed your organization in their will? How many citizens enquire each month about your membership, volunteer, or committee member criteria? Did your last newspaper article appear in the Territorial Enterprise?
What are the signs that you are
a definite 'candidate' for a WAMO Workshop?
You are a maverick, innovator, or motivated individual with a dream. Next to the term “unrealized potential” there is a picture of you. You’ve thoroughly toured the ‘for-profit universe’ and have lots of souvenirs but no funding. You don’t understand how the nonprofit funding ‘parallel universe’ operates, and therefore, don’t know how to access the incredible power and resources that proliferate there, often untapped and idle, just waiting for ‘guess who’.
You have a passion for helping people, solving problems, and collaborating. You have said, “If just given a chance, I could do a lot of good.” You have said, “I have a solution to that problem.” You have a knack for mobilizing people. You have a burning desire to take a great idea ‘to market’ – an idea that will “help mankind if only I can get initial funding.” You could not define the following: pooled income fund, in-kind gift, deferred gift, annuity remainder trust, charitable remainder unitrust, special use agreement, community involvement fund, or commercial nonprofit business. The closest you’ve gotten to a fundraiser is buying Girl Scout cookies. You think a match grant is permission to light up a cigarette. If you believe in your heart that if you had a funding development mentor, you could light up the world, you’re a candidate for a WAMO Workshop.
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