Linda Brown Rivelis is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) and President of Campaign Consultation, Inc., a Baltimore-based organization founded in 1988 that helps individuals and organizations advance social change initiatives around the world. The firm offers a wide range of services including community development, fundraising, public policy, business development, media and marketing, resource development, volunteer recruitment and retention, diversity utilization, and issue advocacy. AVA spoke with Brown Rivelis about three trends that impact nonprofit sustainability and the need to restructure traditional nonprofit management teams so leaders can position themselves to attract more resources and build stronger organizations now, and for the future.

Riding and Harnessing the Waves of Change

The fate of the nonprofit sector is inextricably linked to the rest of society. As national or global events affect government, business, or foundation funding, the overall climate and daily operations of the nonprofit sector are also affected. Faced with today's headlines about the lingering effects of the war in Iraq, the threat of new global conflicts, corporate layoffs, and a volatile stock market, many nonprofits are bracing for a rocky ride ahead. The nonprofit sector will have to direct more energy to resource development, and set their sights on becoming sustainable organizations as they fight to stay afloat in the years to come. �This is the time to do every bit of outreach that you can do�make the investment!� says Brown Rivelis.

Brown Rivelis says nonprofits can immediately begin to strengthen their positions and build a more sustainable future by acting on three important trends:

These three can trends work together to set the stage for savvy nonprofit leaders to make the most of difficult times.

Leveraging Government & Corporate Resources

The good news for the sector is that some resources are on the upswing, and may help the sector begin to view resource development and sustainability through a broader lens. Promotion of volunteerism through organizations like AmeriCorps and the USA Freedom Corps, which were created to strengthen the culture of service and volunteering in America, can only help the sector. �From a government standpoint, volunteerism is being promoted. Let�s ride that wave,� says Brown Rivelis.

The government is also working with a prestigious coalition of business leaders to encourage greater employee volunteerism and corporate citizenship. The prime goal of Business Strengthening America is to engage businesses large and small throughout the ranks of the private sector in community and employee involvement initiatives. Smart companies see that well-run employee volunteer programs increase productivity and overall satisfaction. They know, says Brown Rivelis, that �employee volunteering is simply good business.� Brown Rivelis has witnessed this first hand in her own company. Not only do five percent of Campaign Consultation, Inc.�s pretax fees go to the nonprofit organizations of their employees� choosing, but Campaign Consultation�s employees also spend time volunteering in the community�with the company�s blessing!

Brown Rivelis reports that the resulting increase in employee morale and satisfaction pays for itself many times over. �For this group to be able to sit around the table, present what they want to have funded, to negotiate, discuss, and then be able to roll out thousands of dollars to support charities that we believe in is very reinforcing to the work ethic,� says Brown Rivelis. �And that�s just small business. So when you look at groups like Home Depot and other organizations out there that get the value of employees volunteering and the impact on increased company productivity, that message must continue to be delivered by nonprofit leaders to the corporate sector,� Brown Rivelis adds. (For more information on the value of employee volunteerism and the impact on company productivity, see the research link to the Cone/Roper report at the end of this dialogue.)

Preparing for the Transfer of Wealth

There is an unprecedented �transfer of wealth expected within our generation,� says Brown Rivelis. This means there will soon be tremendous financial resources in the hands of baby boomers and succeeding generations. It is up to nonprofits to cultivate relationships with those individuals and assure their future commitments and gifts now. Likewise, there will be a transfer of philanthropic values as these donors begin to create new foundations and mechanisms for giving to the causes they care about.

Baby boomers who donate will more than likely give to organizations they are already involved with or to whom they have already established a connection. Volunteering can provide that first point of connection for many future donors. To attract more baby boomers as volunteers�and future donors�Brown Rivelis advises nonprofit leaders and volunteer resources managers to develop and market opportunities that center around the family and their needs. "From a fund development standpoint, if the whole family is involved with an organization, that child is going to remember volunteering and is likely to become a donor later on, based on good memories and if the cultivation continues," says Brown Rivelis.

Building Sustainable Organizations

Americans still continue to donate billions of dollars annually to charitable organizations. The most recent report from the American Association of Fundraising Council (AAFRC) Trust for Philanthropy and Giving USA 2002 reflects that giving by individuals represented 83.5% of the total donations in 2001. Statistically, volunteers are also more likely to give than non-volunteers. �Fund development and volunteerism are uniquely linked,� says Brown Rivelis.

Building and sustaining viable nonprofit organizations takes excellent, mission-driven service, along with the coordination of fund development and volunteer resources development. Brown Rivelis has been fortunate enough to work as development director in environments where current staff and volunteers freely provided leads to her when prospective volunteers of means showed up at the agency�s doors. But that type of resource development mindset can only occur, according to Brown Rivelis, if all paid and unpaid staff �understand their role in attracting resources.� She adds that attracting external resources�volunteers, public attention, funding, in-kind donations�requires that an organization's leaders talk with one another, work closely together, and communicate with one voice.

Reframing the Management Team

The two staff leadership positions of development director and volunteer resources director work best when they have synergy with each other. Brown Rivelis goes on to say that these two professionals also require an executive director who clearly understands these resource-generating roles and �sees the big picture of how volunteering is linked to fund development and other outreach initiatives.�

Operationally, Brown Rivelis stresses that an environment where the development director and the volunteer resources director collaborate requires including volunteer resources directors in five key areas:

In short, volunteer managers should be full members of the management team. It is a role far too few volunteer managers have an opportunity to fulfill, Brown Rivelis acknowledges. She says that the �traditional emphasis has been on the Board and the executive focus of volunteerism.� That�s because often the typical nonprofit management team, much like a three-legged stool, is represented by the board chair, the executive director, and the development director. Brown Rivelis emphasizes that a four-legged support structure is even more stable � with the volunteer resources director working with the management team to build a wider menu of opportunities for service among both program volunteers, board members, and other leadership volunteers. Such united purpose, focus, and execution could only result in a more sustainable organization, in both the short and long term.

More conversations need to occur and relationships need to be built to achieve the type of sophisticated, holistic resource development Brown Rivelis envisions for nonprofit organizations. Such a heightened level of management team collaboration may require changes in an agency�s organizational structure and operation. But initiating these types of conversations, and acting on them, is a first step that volunteer resource directors can and should take, Brown Rivelis believes. As she says, the process of building �credibility internally never stops...it takes personality, it takes perseverance, it takes plugging on, and being vigilant about marketing the outcome of dynamic volunteer resources.� And, there�s no time to start like the present.