CPB Public Television Major Giving Initiative

CPB Public TelevisionMajor Giving Initiative Curriculum Building Block 3 Leadership and Staffing To Increase the Success Potential for MGI

What You Will Learn in This Unit • The role of station leadership in MGI • Ways to set appropriate staffing priorities to support MGI without sacrificing the ability to conduct required membership efforts (on-air, direct mail, events) • Strategies for engaging all station personnel as a full development team (to create a culture of philanthropy) • Indicators of potential problem areas in implementing change

Review of Implementation Assignment from BB2 • Brief report and commentary from MGI Team about responses submitted by stations following the January webcast on board leadership.

The Landscape for Station Leadership and Management General Observations Study Report (RWR Survey) CEOs of Public Television Stations Bornstein & Associates February 2001

Skills Needed Now and in the Future (5 – 10 years from 2001) • Experience with new and emerging technologies; • Community involvement; • Working with educational institutions and with local, state and federal governments; • Successful fund raising experience; • Entrepreneurial successes; • Knowledge of financial management;

Skills Needed Now and in the Future (5 – 10 years from 2001) • Familiarity with promotional and marketing techniques, strategic planning, mentoring and staff development skills; • Also, added to the list by respondents: • Creativity • Flexibility • Ability to manage change • Ability to develop and communicate a vision • Ability to work collaboratively in developing partnerships and teamwork

Identified as Most Important Management Skills by CEOs in the Survey • Entrepreneurial skills • Collaboration and partnering • Change management • Technical knowledge • Management skills • How the MGI Team’s work with stations has supported these findings

McKinsey Study-Related Challenges Identified by CEOs • Need for additional funding • Increased competition for audiences • Continually evolving technologies • Respondents felt these challenges could be met by: • New fundraising techniques • Increased local programming • Employing new media and distribution channels to enhance services

8 Skills Needed by Public Television Leaders • Commitment to core values • Ability to embrace the value of change • Knowledge of how to build on an organization’s brand • Understanding of technology • Collaborative leadership • Partnering techniques • Social entrepreneurship • Willingness to take risks

Commentary on the Study Findings: A Conversation with Two Station Leaders Rus Peotter General Manager WGBY, Springfield, MA Kathleen Pavelko President and CEO WITF, Harrisburg, PA

Check In Participants are Invited to Call In and Ask Rus and Kathleen Questions or Provide Their Own Comments (Press * star key on your telephone to signal you have a question)

Staff Leadership Partner and Platform for MGI

Leadership Roles for Staff • Previous focus (BB2) was on volunteer leadership. The success of volunteer leadership will depend on staff leadership. Gardner’s 9 Tasks of Leaders apply to staff as well. For MGI to succeed, staff leadership must: • Embrace MGI without reservation • Be willing to initiate and implement changes that may be required to be successful

Leadership Roles for Staff - 2 • Understand and be able to communicate the benefits of MGI within the station and in the community • Assume the role of relationship-builders and fund raisers in the community if not already playing that role • Work closely with volunteer leaders in the development of relationships, the solicitation and stewardship of donor-investors and be the prime visionaries for the station

Leadership Opportunity:The Culture of Philanthropy • Just as volunteers are leverage or multipliers for development staff, so are all station staff • Internal marketing of the MGI and its potential impact on the station can have a profound effect on the way all staff think about the station: it is another way to help create a “culture of philanthropy” • As part of your MGI plan and implementation, be sure to include orientation for all staff about how they can be partners with staff and volunteer leadership in creating a larger base of resources through major giving • As with volunteers, specific guidance is required about what they can do within the scope of their job

Expectations of Staff Leaders • Have and share a vision that will attract and retain both thoughtful donor-investors and strong volunteer leaders • Give leadership to the donor and fund raising process through participation as needed in cultivating, asking and being a steward so the investment will be renewed

Expectations of Staff Leaders - 2 • Have an unwavering commitment to transparency in accounting for and reporting the impact of donor investment in the station and how it affects the community • Be effective managers of people, ideas and tasks for the station overall including frequent intersections with those responsible for the MGI • Institutional leadership is a requisite for successful MGI

Performance Demands on Leaders • Changes in community expectations (BB1) of nonprofit leaders • “Soft” expectations of wisdom, vision, integrity, trust, inspiration • “Hard” expectations of accountability, transparency, measurable action • Environment that is chaotic, running at Internet-speed, time-driven, pressure-laden • People give to solve community problems or enhance community resources and want to see the tangible results of their investment

How the Major Giving Initiative Increases the Need to Lead • The larger the gift, the greater the expectation for results (venture philanthropy model) • Attracting large gifts provides new options for community partnerships and how station management needs to become a leader among those community institutions • MGI will put stress on internal systems until it is up and running; internal leadership demands will also increase • Major donors may want a level of involvement that is new for your station: you need to be ready to respond in a way that allows donors to feel involved while preserving the professionalism and integrity of your operation

Why the Benefits Outweigh the Stress of New Leadership Demands • Donor-investors are inspired to give when they perceive strong staff and volunteer leadership • Success is energizing: the influx of major gifts will lift the station to a new level and provide the resources it needs to work towards their vision • Working in new ways, with new messages, renews a station both internally and in the mind of the community

Membership and Development Staffing and MGI Keeping the Balance

MGI Implementation: Balancing Station Resources • Staffing plans for MGI need to reflect MGI needs but also support the pipeline programs • Staffing plans can call on potentially greater involvement of volunteers (board and committee) in pipeline, transition and MGI programs (BB2) • Engagement of key board and other leadership volunteers in MGI who are budget decision-makers or influencers will help stretch resources for MGI and other “pipeline” development programs (making the case for MGI internally)

MGI Implementation: Balancing Station Resources • Key considerations in staffing for MGI: • Resource investment in major giving will have a high yield: that should influence resources assigned to MGI • Continued resource investment in pipeline programs is essential to keep members and donors engaged so they can be advanced to higher giving levels – this will affect budgeting • A three-year staffing plan needs to be part of the strategic plan for major gifts development that each station is developing now and implementing in the months after the delivery of this curriculum

Discussion with Guest Presenters Deploying Major Giving Resources

Call In Participants are Invited to Call In and Ask Kathleen and Rus Questions or Provide Their Own Comments (Press * star key on your telephone to signal you have a question)

Check Up: Quick Vote • Is your station addressing the need to balance staffing and budget to keep pipeline programs strong while focusing attention on major giving? • Yes No • What changes have you made/might you make? • Redeploy existing staff Add staff Both • Do you have an overall plan for development/MGI staffing? • Yes No It’s in the works

Seeing All Staff as the Full Development Team New Resources

Station Staff as the Full Development Team • Change in staff’s understanding of their impact (Ken Blanchard: Director of First Impressions story) • Why everyone – from receptionist to technician – is part of the full “development team” and how that contributes to creating a culture of philanthropy with volunteers and leadership staff • Internal marketing of the development process to staff: understanding the difference between development (uncovering shared values) and fund raising (providing opportunities for donors to act on the shared values) and the role volunteers can play as partners

Change Management Issues • New leadership roles for CEO/GM, development and other staff • New engagement of station staff as “full development team” in creating a culture of philanthropy • Closer work with volunteers around a shared vision leading to successful major giving • Implementing change on a limited budget – but the change is necessary to increase the resources

Discussion with Guest Presenters Toughest Change Issue You Confronted and How You Are Solving (or Solved) It

Summary of Leadership and Staffing Discussions • Engaging the full staff behind MGI as the full development (not fund raising) team will require new leadership: and that is just one aspect of the new leadership requirements • Leadership tasks (Gardner: BB2) apply to staff as well as volunteers and include change management issues • Implementing MGI will require a balancing act with resource allocation to MGI and “pipeline programs” that are essential • Success will depend on ability of station leaders to balance staff and volunteers effectively

Implementation Assignment:Ramping Up for the Second Half • With Building Block 4, on March 10, we will begin getting into the tactical issues of fund raising with a focus on systems support for prospect identification, research, tracking and management. Before we take that leap, we want you to reflect on the first three Building Blocks (case for support, volunteers and staffing) and do a “mid-point” check up.

Implementation Assignment • Using the worksheet provided on the website, let us know where you are with case development, plans for volunteer involvement and ideas you have for your three-year staffing plan as you consider the work that needs to be done and begin to nail down the goals (dollars, donors) you will be setting for yourself. Get it back to us by March 3 so we can see where you are – it will also help us as we continue our station visits. Many thanks!

CPB Public TelevisionMajor Giving Initiative Curriculum Building Block 3 Leadership and Staffing to Ensure the Success of MGI

CPB Public Television Major Giving Initiative