ASK Consulting
|
|
|
About us
|
Are you a "nonprofit"? Do you "fundraise"? Have you ever thought of what these terms really mean? Do you really want to define yourself using a name of something you're not? You don't call yourself a non-animal? Or do you? You don't call a lake 'non-land,' right? If you work at or run a nonprofit, what you are a part of is something special, and so much more than the opposite of a for-profit entity. A for-profit corporation is a tax and legal structure that is purposed primarily with increasing net earnings and maximizing 'shareholder value'. Ask yourself: is your identity as a nonprofit best described with the terms 'non-profitability' and 'non-maximization-of-shareholder-value'?
Nonprofits everywhere have unknowingly begun to 'act' like corporations themselves: they are more concerned with raising money than their organizational mission and purpose. This mindset has adversely impacted how nonprofit staffers think about their fundraising, communications and other duties: it has become all about the money. We need to ask ourselves: Do we only want funds from donors? Or more than funds? Why aren't we seeking stakeholders that represent the mission that we ourselves encompass? We need to go back to the drawing board and rethink how we have defined ourselves and how that has led to problems that exist in our organizations, communities and nation. Seeing the forest for the trees
How about a community resource organization or CRO. Instead of 'fundraising', we need to strive for a broader term to encompass all forms of support, not just money. (Because the best fundraisers really raise much more than just money) . We should call it resource-raising. But re-establishing terminology is just the beginning. Next, we should take a look at the mission and purpose of our organizations and really ask if we are representing them (our mission and purpose) in all of the expressions of our organization. At ASK Consulting, we want to help you with this process of stamping the full expression of your mission onto all aspects of your existence: organizational goals, communications, outreach, etc... Also, we want to help you figure out what it means to no longer be a nonprofit and what it means instead to be a community resource organization. For example, there are many exciting ways to identify new donors of all types of resources. Imagine all of the other resources that donors can bring to the table other than money: connections, ideas, professional skills, motivation, volunteerism, etc... As many ways you want to thrive as an organization, there are people out there that want to help. We want to help you readjust your development model to evolve into a resource-raising model. We want to help your organization re-new, achieve and thrive. About us: From 2003 to 2008, ASK Consulting operated as a full-service prospect research consultancy that helped a wide range of nonprofit organizations raise millions of dollars with the aid of our signature in-depth, full-length donor profiles on individuals and corporations. ASK Consulting's profiles were prose-style 3 to 4 page reports that were built from public records data acquired from web sources, fee and free online databases, print publications, and faxed and phoned data from governmental bodies. In 2008, ASK Consulting's scope changed to focus on prospect research training and audits, and organizational reform. ASK Consulting was founded by Andrew Kishner, who worked as a staff advancement researcher for two private colleges in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts before starting ASK Consulting in 2003. A holder of a Masters of Business Administration degree, Andrew has written articles and also a series of company valuation how-to pieces for the publications of the largest two advancement research membership organizations. He is also founder of a grassroots organization named Idealist. Please contact us to learn more. Our commitment: We take our clients' privacy concerns very seriously. ASK Consulting is dedicated to preserving the trust of our clients and the trust they have with their constituencies. Our greatest satisfaction is learning and striving to meet our clients' needs. There's a lot more to like about ASK Consulting.
|
ASK Consulting is located in Bloomfield, Connecticut - E-mail
Pictures
(© ASK Consulting) are taken within the greater Farmington Valley, aka
"Land of Nod"
Nonprofit
organizations across the world have, without
realizing it, inherited a loosely-defined
identity. Clearly, the word 'nonprofit'
fails to encapsulate
the meaning that comes to mind when we when think of
that word. 
First thing, we need to do away with the
term 'non-profit.' Instead, we must strive for a
new word - a better word for a better world.