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Supporting A Development Office:Have You Got What It Takes?

Cheri Weissman

May 1, 2012

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Today’s Speaker & Host

Cheri WeissmanPresident

CJW Consulting & Services, Inc.Assisting with chat questions: April Hunt, Nonprofit Webinars

Supporting a Development Office

Have you got what it takes?

What You May Think You Need

• Experience in the database or software in use at the organization

• Extensive database experience

• Math and/or accounting skills

• Ability to think vertically

Common Misconception #1

• An employer will only want to hire me if I have experience in their organization’s software– Actually, this is not a misconception much of the

time, as employers routinely include knowledge of their organization’s software in job descriptions

– A smart employer understands two critical points• Use of software in one environment does not

necessarily translate to effective use in another environment

• Other factors are far more important

If you’ve been using software this way:

0

1

2

3

4

5

And they use the software this way:

Is this really a match?

Hospital Foundation Parochial School

Common Misconception #2

• If I don’t have experience with the organization’s software, I at least have to understand databases and how to use them.

– Again, employers might think this is the case. They’re often wrong.

• While it is important to be able to understand where and how data is maintain within an application, an understanding of databases comes with a level of technical awareness that’s wasted for users of a software application.

Database Experts

• People who work with databases are generally used to setting them up, designing reports, forms, etc.

– Application software does that work.

– Database experts tend to work around an application, not effectively within it.

Common Misconception #3

• I need to know math and/or accounting to work in a development office

– If by “math” you mean the ability to use one of the items shown here, you’re right.

– You need the ability to converse with an accountant, perhaps – development offices do not typically require accounting staff.

Common Misconception #4

• I need to be a vertical thinker

– Vertical thinking is a type of approach to problems that usually involves being selective, analytical and sequential.

– Lateral thinking is about reasoning that is not immediately obvious and about ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic

(definitions found in Wikipedia)

Pop Quiz!

• The Waiter• Three men in a cafe order a meal the total cost of

which is $15. They each contribute $5. The waiter takes the money to the owner who recognizes the three as friends and asks the waiter to return $5 to the diners.

• Instead of going to the trouble of splitting the $5 between three men, he gives them $1 each and pockets the remaining $2 for himself.

• Now, each of the men effectively paid $4, the total paid is therefore $12. Add the $2 in the waiters pocket and this comes to $14.....where has the other $1 gone from the original $15?

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

• The solution can’t be found by adding the amount that was paid to the amount that was received from that payment by the waiter

• The payments made should equal the total money received

• Each man ended up paying $4 ($12 total). Of that $12, the waiter took $2. Therefore, the owner got $10 ($15 minus the $5 he told the waiter to give back to the men.)

Pop Quiz!

• It took two hours for two men to dig a hole five feet deep. How deep would it have been if ten men had dug the hole for two hours?

Answer(s)

• Vertical thinking answer– If 2 men can dig a hole that’s 5 feet deep, 10 men can dig a

hole that’s 5 times deeper, so the answer is 25 feet

• Lateral thinking answer– 10 men would need more room to work side-by-side, so

the hole may get wider rather than deeper

– Ten men are more likely to disagree on a digging method

– More men could work in shifts to dig faster

– If there are 8 more men, are there more shovels?

– Would it make more sense to have 5 holes each 5 feet deep?

Requirements

• The ability to go beneath the surface to get the right (or best) solution

– Lateral thinking

• The tendency to pursue resolution

– When you see something that does not appear correct, find out why

– Don’t accept the apparently incorrect because it’s there

More Requirements

• Attention to detail

• Ability to multi-task

• Ability to prioritize

Final Exam

• Put these tasks in the order in which you think they should be done:– Enter gifts received today– Send acknowledgments– Prepare checks for deposit– Verify total amount received

• What step(s) is/are missing?• Which of these two things should be done first?

– Print gift validation report– Check email

The Most Important Requirements– Commitment to nonprofits

• Nearly everyone who works in the nonprofit community is potentially giving up something to do it: money, benefits, etc. If you are someone who realizes that what you gain is far greater than what you may give up, you’re in the right place

– Interest in fundraising• It is virtually impossible to effectively manage fundraising

data if you do not have an interest in fundraising and the ability to learn what it is and how it’s done.

– Comfort level with computers• If you tremble when your finger touches a PC key thinking

you’re going to blow something up every time you touch it, this is not the right position for you

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