How to Bring Your Development and Finance Teams Together in Harmony

It’s the first board meeting of the quarter and the development director has just completed her 2018 board report. She’s thrilled to announce that in the past year—through a combination of major donor contributions and grants—the Fundraising team has raised over $5 million, exceeding their target by $250,000. Amazing! Well done! A fabulous year. She receives a round of applause from the room and walks back to her seat with
a glow.

But then a troubled look from a new board member breaks the mood: “I’m looking at the Statement of Activities and it shows $4 million dollars in contributions for 2018. That’s a pretty big difference. What’s going on? What number is correct here? A million-dollar difference is a pretty big deal.”

All eyes are on the report, and the development director jumps in to explain that she received a confirmed pledge from a major donor that should have been counted. The CFO responds that the pledge itself can’t be counted because in all reality, it wasn’t a pledge, it was a conditional gift—the donor pledged $750,000 to the capital campaign but only under the condition that the proposed building site go through an environmental impact report. “What? I’ve had multiple conversations with the donor and we both know that’s a formality!” Conversational mayhem ensues until the Executive Director steps in and promises to get a set of clarifying numbers within the week.
Three months later the Executive Director has been replaced by an interim (the current chair of the Finance Committee) and they now have an executive search firm looking for a leader with a strong finance background.

Download our white paper discussing “The Elephant In The Boardroom” and learn how to bring your development and finance teams together in harmony.

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