The following excerpt is taken from Governing Essentials. To learn more about this valuable resource, click here.

The Board is responsible for setting an atmosphere in which the Board itself and the Executive Director have what they need to do their jobs in the best possible way. This means (1) a good working environment, including space and equipment; (2) a good salary and benefits for the Executive Director (and staff), and (3) budget support and encouragement for continuing education and training for the Executive Director (and staff).

Stepping out in faith may be the way that a new or small organization moves from small salary and benefits to providing a better compensation package for the Executive Director. A committed donor might be convinced to fund a “capacity-building” plan that allows the organization to upgrade office space and equipment and raise the salary of the Executive Director. As with all growth, what is needed is turning it over to the Lord, taking one small step forward, and following with one more step at a time as the Lord blesses.

by Andrea Trudden, Vice President of Communications & Marketing

It's hard to believe we're already halfway through the year.

For many Pregnancy Help Organizations, January feels like it was yesterday. Yet before we know it, fall events, year-end appeals, annual reports, and budgeting conversations will be upon us. The organizations that navigate those conversations with confidence are rarely the ones scrambling in November to gather numbers, locate photos, or remember client stories. These are the organizations that have intentionally collected and reviewed key information throughout the year.

In the past, we shared an article on crafting a comprehensive and impactful annual report. While annual reports may feel far away, the middle of the year is actually the perfect time to evaluate whether you're gathering the information you'll need to tell your story well when December arrives.

Consider this your mid-year leadership check-in.

Are You Tracking the Right Numbers?

Take a few moments to review your goals and reporting systems.

Do you know:

• How many clients have you served so far this year?
• How do your service numbers compare to the same time last year?
• What mid-year insights are you seeing in the analytics?
• Which programs are growing?
• Which services may need additional attention or promotion?
• Are your fundraising goals on pace?

Many organizations discover late in the year that they wish they had been tracking a particular metric more consistently. A mid-year review gives you the opportunity to make adjustments now while there is still time to gather meaningful data.

Supporters, just as much as board members, are increasingly interested in measurable outcomes. They want to connect the number of people served with how lives were impacted through those services.

Are You Capturing Stories Along the Way?

One of the most common challenges organizations face when preparing year-end communications is finding compelling client stories.

The reality is that powerful stories rarely appear on demand.

Now is the time to ask your team:

• Have we documented top-level client success stories?
• Do we have proper permissions where needed?
• Have we collected related photos, quotes, or testimonials?
• Are there families, volunteers, or donors whose stories illustrate our mission?

The stories that resonate most deeply at year-end are often the ones that have been carefully gathered throughout the year. Every pregnancy test, parenting class, ultrasound appointment, and material assistance visit represents a person whose life may help demonstrate your organization's impact.

Pro Tip: Make storytelling a regular part of your internal team/staff meetings. Encourage sharing recent client interactions and moments of impact. This helps create a culture that values storytelling and helps staff identify stories worth documenting before they're forgotten. Over time, you'll build a library of authentic stories that can be used in donor communications, annual reports, fundraising appeals, and community outreach. The organizations that consistently capture stories throughout the year are often the most effective at demonstrating impact and inspiring support. Always have a release form if you use the client’s name or use an alias.

How Are Your Fundraising Goals Progressing?

Mid-year is also an ideal time to evaluate fundraising performance.

Review your annual budget and compare current giving against projections. Ask questions such as:

• Are we on pace to meet our fundraising goals?
• Have donor retention rates remained strong?
• Are there major donors who need personal follow-up?
• Do we have a plan for our fall and year-end appeals?
• Are there opportunities to strengthen donor stewardship now?

Year-end giving often determines whether organizations meet their annual goals, but successful year-end campaigns are rarely created in December. They are built through consistent communication and relationship-building throughout the year.

Does The Board Have the Information They Need to Communicate Your Mission Well?

Board members play a critical role in advancing your mission, but they can only champion your work if they understand it and can communicate it to others.

Take time to evaluate the information being shared with your board. Along with financials and canned reports, are you regularly providing:

• Missional program updates?
• Meaningful impact data?
• Shareable client stories?
• Strategic progress updates?

A well-informed board is better equipped to advocate, fundraise, and provide governance for the organization.

Looking Ahead Starts Today

The strongest annual reports, fundraising appeals, and donor conversations don't begin at year-end. They begin with intentional preparation throughout the year.

As you move into the second half of the year, consider scheduling a leadership review with your staff and include the findings for discussion at a board meeting. Revisit your goals. Evaluate your data collection processes. Gather stories. Review fundraising progress. Celebrate wins. Identify challenges.

Most importantly, make sure you're documenting the evidence of the life-changing work happening every day through your organization. When year-end arrives, you'll be grateful you took the time to prepare now rather than trying to piece together your story after the fact.

Your mission deserves to be told well. The best time to start preparing for that story is today.

For a full list of year-end resources, click here.

by Lauri Campbell

At Heartbeat International we believe strongly that one of the six major responsibilities for the Board of Directors is to Nurture the people of the organization.  

Boards Nurture their teams in two ways. First, by creating a culture of servant leadership. It’s especially important that they model servant leadership within the leadership team: with fellow Board members and the Executive Director. 

Second, by providing professional growth opportunities and support for themselves, the Executive Director and staff.

In John we see Jesus teaching the disciples how they can demonstrate their love for Him.

“‘Do you love Me?’ And he (Peter) said to Him, ‘Lord, You know all things; You know that I love you,’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed My sheep’” (John 21:17b).

In Heartbeat’s Governing Essentials manual, Peggy Hartshorn writes, “The Board’s authority over the organization, its role of stewardship, comes from the Lord. The Board “feeds” the organization, like Jesus instructed His disciples to feed those He put under their care. Jesus made them shepherds over His sheep.”

The Board is responsible to see that the organization has what it needs to develop in a healthy way. This is the calling of God on Christian Boards—steward and shepherd the team as unto the Lord.

As a board member for many years I understood the first part of my Nurture responsibility almost instinctively. I knew how important it was to create a culture of servant leadership and to interact with my fellow board members and the Executive Director from a place of humility and service. That’s what Jesus modeled and I had seen this lived out in my home and in church life.

Unfortunately, my understanding of our responsibility to Nurture the team did not extend to include professional development.

I saw it as a luxury we could not afford.  

Boy was I wrong! Turns out it's really quite the opposite. Development is an investment we cannot afford to overlook!

When I later became the Executive Director myself it took me a couple of years but I finally learned the value of investing in continuing education and training for the Board, myself and the staff.

When our Board received Heartbeat’s Governing Essentials training and later engaged a Heartbeat Strategic Planning expert our growth and strength as an organization and team grew. We could see the fruit of those professional development investments. Giving increased, the budget got larger, client visits increased, our number of staff positions grew and our mission of reaching the abortion minded gained some much needed focusing.

The investment of training and development pays off immeasurably. When people are encouraged in their work, strengths and gifts to do their best, they naturally work harder to do a good job and we saw this play out in our ministry.

Investing in professional development tells people that you care and you want to see them excel at their jobs. Conversely, neglecting their training and development often leaves people feeling unappreciated, aimless and discouraged.

Servant leadership means putting people first and one of the ways a healthy board can do that is to provide opportunities for people to develop and optimize their God-given gifts. 

In the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) Jesus warns against laziness. The servants who invested and grew their talents were rewarded, while the one who buried his talent was rebuked. 

Boards should position people for success by asking them to do and build on what they do best. As we invest in the gifts of our teams, we can expect to watch their confidence grow. Capitalizing on the strengths each team member has been blessed with will increase effectiveness and confidence individually and organizationally.

As servant leaders we must not expect healthy organizations without providing leadership development.

You can run an organization without investing in your team's development, but eventually some or all will experience burnout and the mission will suffer.You may have saved money and time but the cost you end up paying is much greater than any budget line item can reflect.

It all comes back to stewardship.

As a Board of Directors you’ve been given a team of people to steward by God. 

At your next Board Meeting I challenge you to ask your Executive Director and fellow board members these questions:

• How are we doing with professional development and support for our own leadership team (Board, Executive Director) and for the rest of our staff?
  
• Does everyone have the training and support to grow and develop more knowledge and skills and become even better laborers in the vineyard of the Lord?
  
• If more attention is due to this aspect of Nurturing, how will you move forward to rectify what’s missing?
  
• What specific steps will you take to Nuture your team through professional development?

Heartbeat has training and professional development for everyone from Board members to client advocates, Executive Directors, nurses and everyone in between. It’s affordable, Christ-centered and designed specifically for pregnancy help organizations (PHO). It’s taught, written or facilitated by people who have been in PHOs for years, often decades. So please take advantage of the resources and training we offer.  It’s our honor to help you steward your team’s development.

Click here for practical ways you can nurture your team today. 

by Liliana Grace

Communication is about what you say, how you say it, and how it is received.

Have you ever been misunderstood?  In every conversation, there are often multiple conversations happening.  One is the one you think you are having; the other is the one that is being received. 

One of the most common questions I get asked is, “How can my marketing speak to both clients and donors simultaneously?”

My response is that there will be times to have unique messages, but the most impactful brands have a core message that spans both audiences. 

When you promote the impact you are having in your community, the services you provide, and the outcomes, that will attract both clients and donors.   

Do hear me: there will be times in which you might take a deeper angle of a unique perspective specific to the donor or the client. However,  when it comes to branding and paid marketing, look to have consistent messages sharing what you offer, who you serve, and how you serve.

Have a clean message that is clear, concise, and consistent. 

Consider for a minute if your next unreached donor opportunity were the age of your clients?  In both client and donor messaging, the core of what you offer, and the heart in how you offer it, should be consistently presented. 

In donor marketing, we often gravitate towards a traditional legacy style donor looking for that next big gift.  Consequently, the natural thought is to use a very traditional approach.  I agree that much of this will work, but for this article, let’s think about going beyond that and think about how marketing can engage both potential clients as well as a younger donor.

If we get it down to basics, all donors are looking for someone they can trust with their money, as well as feel good about helping with a cause they believe in.

Younger donors often approach their giving as more “in the moment”.  

When something moves them, they act.  They ask, “Is this organization providing a solution to a problem that I think is problem?” or “Do I know/trust this organization and the person asking for the money?” 

The trust they are looking for can be transferred based on showing the successful outcomes, through a recommendation of another trusted source, or even a quality social media page that is consistently updated with relevant empowering messaging of the mission and brand.

Younger potential donor groups have grown up with digital currency and concepts like, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer funding, and micro gifts.  This donor group seeks community, something in which to believe, a cause that matters and, once discovered, will support it and tell others to do the same.  An ask can go “viral” and then the real magic can happen.

How can you catch this “lightning in a bottle?" You need a lightning rod.  Create and maintain a clear, concise, and consistent message through all aspects of your marketing and outreach.  Be sure your social media is on brand and empowering. Be seen and be relevant.

As you approach your client marketing, keep in mind, they just might be your next donor.  Build your brand. Design your messaging to showcase the impactful services you provide and the hope you offer while simultaneously showcasing the opportunity that everyone can be a part of the solution.

Always remember, today’s client can be tomorrow’s donor.                   

To your continued success in empowering women,

Liliana Grace
Founder, L Grace Brands
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.