Each year, Greenlights’ 501 Council awards capacity-building grants to Greenlights members for consulting services in the areas of fundraising/resource development, board excellence, and strategy and planning. Receiving a record 72 applications for support this year, the council had its work cut out for them!  After multiple rounds of reviews by the council’s stellar grant review team, two finalists in each grant category were invited to make their case for support before an all-council vote.

It is our pleasure to congratulate the following 2012 grantees!

Fundraising/Resource Development Category
Recipient:  Colorado River Foundation

Board Excellence Category
Recipient:  The Christi Center

Strategy & Planning Category
Recipient:  Austin Clubhouse

So how does it work?
Greenlights’ 501 Council consists of business professionals and community-minded individuals who want to support Central Texas nonprofits through collaborative giving and decision-making. Each year, members contribute $250 into a pooled capacity fund that is distributed through grants once a year, enabling qualified Greenlights member organizations to benefit from our consulting services. This year, under the leadership of Clayton Bullock of Moreland Properties, the 501 Council members contributed nearly $12,000 collectively, all in the name of strengthening Central Texas nonprofits!

Get involved!
The 501 Council welcomes new members year-round. Council membership provides an opportunity to learn more about the nonprofit sector while supporting it – and it’s a great way to meet like-minded individuals who come together from a variety of sectors. Whether you’re new to nonprofit service, looking to gain experience before stepping onto a nonprofit board, or you’d just like to try your hand at philanthropy-in-action, this is a sure fit! And as a thank you, council members receive a complementary individual membership with Greenlights and gain access to a variety of benefits like discounts on professional development opportunities. Learn more about the 501 Council and join us!

Apply for a grant!
The next grant cycle will kick off in October 2012 with grants awarded in early 2013. Nonprofits in need of capacity-building in the areas of fundraising/resource development, board excellence and strategy and planning are encouraged to apply. The 501 Council is most concerned with an organization’s readiness (i.e. What steps has the organizations taken to address the challenge previously? Why is now the right time for a consulting engagement?) and impact (i.e. What are the foreseeable outcomes of a consulting engagement? How will the organization define and measure success? ). Learn more about the grants offered, the process and former grantees.

Congratulations to the Colorado River Foundation, The Christi Center and Austin Clubhouse! Thank you to our generous 501 Council members for their commitment to Central Texas nonprofits and to Greenlights’ work to strengthen nonprofits for extraordinary performance and impact!

November 30^th is not only the last day of the month. It’s also the last day to apply for one of three capacity service grants. If your organization is ready to take an in-depth look at your board’s strength, your fundraising capacity or your nonprofit’s strategic course, then a 501 Council Grant may be the opportunity for you.

Grant recipients will not receive a check, but rather an opportunity to receive Greenlights consulting services (valued at $3,000 or more) in one of three areas: Board Excellence, Fundraising / Resource Development or Strategy & Planning.

But before sitting down to work on your application, your nonprofit should think about these key questions:

1. Most consulting projects involve 20-30 total hours of work by the nonprofit awardees’ staff. Can your organization make this commitment in 2012?
2. Even if your organization doesn’t apply for the Board Excellence grant, the support and buy-in from your board is crucial in this process. Will your Board of Directors supportive of this application and time commitment?
3. It’s important that applicants go into this process with reasonable and clear expectations about the outcome.  What outcomes does your organization expect to achieve from this grant and how will you measure the effectiveness?

You can fill out the application online, but be sure to write your answers in a separate document to save for your files. The application doesn’t allow you to save your work and return to it later. And be sure to upload the requested attachments. If you have any trouble uploading these you can email them directly to us.

And remember, grant applicants must be Greenlights members to apply. So, if your nonprofit has been thinking about becoming a member, this is a great reason to join.

These grants are made possible by the generosity of Greenlights’ 501 Council, a group of people who strengthen our local nonprofit sector through collaborative giving for greater impact. Annual membership dues are pooled into a capacity fund and distributed through capacity service grants, enabling nonprofits to benefit from Greenlights’ consulting services.

So, what are you waiting for? Apply today! If you have any questions, you can email me or my colleague, Kate Smallwood.

Today marks my ninth day on staff with Greenlights, which means I’ve got nearly one day under my belt for every year Greenlights has been in existence, and I couldn’t be prouder! In my short time on staff, and longer as a member, I’ve connected with Greenlights’ vision, “Strong communities through exceptional nonprofits.” I don’t know if it’s the warm, fuzzy feeling it instantly instills in me, or the can-do energy it inspires, but I just can’t help but feel good when I think about this simple declaration. Best of all, we’re achieving it! And by “we” I mean all of the nonprofit community – together.

With Thanksgiving around the corner and Greenlights’ 10^th anniversary year drawing to a close, togetherness is in trend and I can’t think of a better time to give thanks to our member organizations – the talented, hard working do-gooders who work tirelessly to strengthen our communities. While the weather changes and holiday spirit moves in, we know that you all remain steady, poised to facilitate community engagement and strategically support the growing demands of your mission. This is an especially busy time of year for nonprofits and we want to remind you that we’re rooting for you!

Give yourself a pick-me-up by taking advantage of some of your Greenlights’ membership benefits. Better yet, get the most out of your membership by sharing the benefits with your whole staff this Thanksgiving season:

• Take advantage of deals offered by our Business Partners

• Get help with back-office tasks from Easy Office

• Purchase low-cost Directors and Officers liability insurance from Wortham Insurance & Risk Management

• Book free meeting space at the Mitte Foundation Carriage House (downtown) or Greenlights’ offices (north-central)

• Apply for a 501 Council capacity service grant for consulting services (2011 deadline: 11/30/11)

• Redeem free workshop voucher(s) (amount varies by membership level) and enjoy significant discounts on additional skill-building workshops

• Schedule your free hour of consulting

• Promote your news, events and job openings on our website

And remember, you can share Greenlights’ nonprofit tools, tips and opportunities with everyone in your organization. Invite your employees to sign up to receive our monthly e-newsletter, Greenlights2Go.

Not a member? Join or renew today and share the benefits with your organization this Thanksgiving season.

Guest post by Brent Lyles, Executive Director, Austin Youth River Watch

Austin Youth River Watch Board members Greg Johnson and David Greene discuss big ideas at a Greenlights-facilitated planning retreat.

“We won the Greenlights 501 Council grant!” I still remember the moment we found out. With thousands of nonprofits in the Austin area, Austin Youth River Watch felt incredibly proud to have been chosen to receive Greenlights’ full strategic-planning package for free, thanks to the 501 Council grant.

What it meant to us

Austin Youth River Watch has been in business for almost 20 years, quietly working with high-school students on two things: Helping them graduate from high school, and teaching them to test water quality as a community service, all across the Austin metro area. Huge changes for us occurred during 2009 and 2010, including increased numbers of students in our programs, the addition of our first paid Executive Director (me!), and a new focus on nonprofit best practices.

We knew we were growing, and we wanted to grow more, but we needed strategic direction: How should we grow over the next few years? What would be our obstacles and opportunities? Who were potential partners? Greenlights provided the structure and masterful facilitation to answer all these questions and more, and that made all the difference. Was it easy? No. Were there times when we felt overwhelmed and confused? Absolutely. But, with help and guidance from Tara Levy, we eventually made it through, and now…

We have a Strategic Plan!

The process included Board and staff retreats, benchmarking, focus groups, interviews with partners and stakeholders, and a LOT of thoughtful conversations in-between. It took us the better part of six months, and that’s not including the write-up. The amount of staff time involved was huge (though not unexpected). We are especially proud that our Plan has buy-in from everyone here at River Watch; that will be critical as we move into next steps.

Our plan includes three major goals: (1) Double the size of our core programs, from ~120 students per year to ~250 students per year. (2) Supplement those core programs with site-based, Service-Learning opportunities for our students. And (3) Grow our organizational capacity (Board, staff, facilities, technology) to support those programmatic expansions. As an Executive Director, charged with leadership and fundraising for Austin Youth River Watch, I can’t tell you how beneficial it’s been to have a formal plan in place. I am using it every day, referring to it and sharing it with potential partners and funders.

Advice to others

I do have a few thoughts for other folks who are interested in taking on Strategic Planning (including applicants for the 501 Council grants):

• Make sure you’re ready. Doing planning on this scale is a big commitment, and we had to intentionally schedule time and energy AWAY from our other job responsibilities over the course of six months. Not easy! Also, jumping into planning because of an organizational crisis (like funding cuts) is NOT a good time to do it. Strategic Planning is different from Crisis Management.
• Think about the Fit. Every organization has its strengths and weaknesses, and that’s true of planning consultants too. Does Greenlights have a consultant who is a good fit for your needs? We are a quirky organization, and we needed someone who could work with us and have a big-picture grasp of our situation — and who appreciates our sense of humor!
• Keep an open mind. The power of a planning process lies in taking the time to consider lots of opinions, advice, and ideas. For us, we had to evaluate some conflicting options (including whether growth was even a good idea!), and to be honest, we had some difficult conversations that left us with discouraged hearts. Happily, we took some deep breaths and came back to the table with open minds — without those tough conversations, I don’t think we could have been as successful in creating such a robust plan.

Next steps

And now, the real work begins! Our plan includes a variety of tactics to approach our Big Hairy Audacious Goals in manageable steps. Over the next few years, we’ll be reaching out more to key stakeholder networks, building critical support for our growth. When we look back, we’ll know that we couldn’t have done it without Greenlights, and we’ll owe a special debt of thanks to members the 501 Council for their support as well.

I invite you to follow our adventures! Visit our website, join the River Watch mailing list, follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook . And personally, if I can be of help to YOU, please feel free to contact me directly — I always love a good conversation over coffee…

Thanks for reading,

R. Brent Lyles, Executive Director

According to a 2009 study, “Donors in giving circles give more, give more strategically, and are more engaged in their communities.”

Giving circles have grown in popularity in recent years.  The concept is simple. Members give a specified amount and collectively decide how the resources should be allocated. From an informal group of friends deciding to pool their funds for their favorite nonprofit to large, local groups like Impact Austin and the Futuro Fund, giving circles are elevating the practice of collective philanthropy.

Often with a combination of educational and social components, nonprofits are also adopting the giving circle model to provide a more meaningful donor experience.  More traditional, and passive, donor recognition groups (which place supporters into designated groupings based on the level of their giving) are being rethought in favor of the more active model of the giving circle. Greenlights’ own 501 Council is a type of giving circle that brings together a group of business professionals, including nonprofit pros, who pool their membership dues and grant them back to nonprofits seeking Greenlights’ consulting services.

Is the giving circle model right for your organization? Here are some questions to consider:

1.) What is the group’s purpose?

Think about how a group of this kind can lend strategic support to your organization. How much do you expect the members to contribute?  Are you hoping to raise funds and awareness around a particular program or initiative or perhaps provide broader support of your mission through this targeted engagement opportunity?

2.) Who is your target audience?

With a more engaged and thoughtful group of donors often comes more loyalty. Do you want to reach out to a new demographic of donors or do you want to engage existing donors in a more thoughtful way and perhaps promote a higher level of giving?

3.) What level of programming and support will your staff provide to this group?

Perhaps even before deciding the group’s audience and purpose, consider if your staff has the ability to manage a group like this. How often will the group meet and will there be leadership within the group itself that will make it more autonomous?

The bottom line is giving circles can be a useful fundraising tool, but more importantly, they can give donors a unique and meaningful way to connect with your organization’s work.  There will always be supporters who are happy to write their contribution check and not engage any further (and we love them too!), but for those supporters who want to do more than write a check, a giving circle can be a great vehicle to get them more involved.

Has your organization applied the giving circle model in a unique way? If so, please tell us about it.