The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2008 - (Page 24)

MEMORIAL William R. ‘Bill’ Simms, 94 AFP co-founder was also a civil rights leader W illiam R.“Bill” Simms, one of the co-founders of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and a key figure in the civil rights movement, died this past December 7, while visiting his son in New Mexico. He was 94. The cause of death was not immediately known, although he had numerous health issues. Born on Jan. 23, 1914, Simms served in the Army during World War II and then joined the American Council on Race Relations in Chicago, working as director of public relations for several years. He was then hired by Pepsi, one of a small group of African-American salesmen hired during the late 1940s to help the company target the AfricanAmerican market. The campaign broke the color barrier, one of the first such ventures to feature African-American salesmen marketing to the community and using positive images of African-Americans. It was the subject of a book, The Real Pepsi Challenge, written by Stephanie Capparell and published in 2007. Simms earned a Master’s Degree in public relations from Boston University in 1949, and taught for a year at the university. He then moved to New York to join the New York City Urban League as a public affairs officer. He transitioned to the national office of the Urban League in 1954, working as assistant director of the Urban League Fund, which was involved in fundraising. He served for 25 years with the Urban League, most of them as director of development, and launched the organization’s first national fundraising campaign. He worked with many of the key figures in America’s civil rights movement and raised millions of dollars for the organization. Upon retiring from the Urban League, Simms immediately moved into a consulting role as coordinator of fundraising for Tuskegee Institute’s Centennial Program.This four-year assignment led to other consulting activities,including a Lilly Foundation-funded initiative through the United Negro College Fund to train young professionals interested in a career in fundraising. During his tenure at the National Urban League, Simms also was active in advancing the profession of philanthropic fundraising. In 1960, he helped to co-found the National Society of Fund Raisers (NSFR), the first national association of fundraising professionals. The organization has since evolved into the largest fundraising association in the world, the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), with more than 29,000 members in 196 chapters around the world. He was predeceased by fellow NSFR co-founders Harry Rosen of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies and Benjamin Sklar of Brandeis University. The AFP Founders’ Medallion, the highest award the association gives for service, is named in his honor. He received the very first Founders’ Medallion, awarded in 2004.AFP’s youth in philanthropy award is also named after Simms because of his interest and work in encouraging young people to give and volunteer. In addition to honors from AFP, Simms received the Whitney Young Medallion for outstanding dedication and service to the Urban League movement (1992), the Henry Rosso Award from the Center on Philanthropy (1995), and an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Martin University (Indianapolis, Ind., 1999). Simms was living in Great Barrington,Mass.He is survived by a son, daughter and two grandsons. In honor and memory of his leadership and his work in the area of youth philanthropy, the AFP Foundation for Philanthropy has established the William R. Simms Fund.The fund will support programs for young people engaged in philanthropy or fundraising. Donations can be sent to:AFP Foundation Simms Fund, 4300 Wilson Blvd., Suite 300, Arlington,Va., 22203.The Simms Fund gift form can be obtained at www.afpnet.org. For questions or additional information, please contact Curtis Deane at cdeane@afpnet.org On Volunteers Continued from page 23 volunteers vs. working with employees? If the middle manager doesn’t really know, who will train the staff? There might be times that the middle manager needs to act as an objective third party to settle disputes between the employee and any volunteers he or she supervises, or facilitate discussions in which there are differing or conflicting perspectives.There are two contradictory issues that the middle manager must avoid: elevating the paid staff above volunteers, and reluctance to criticize volunteers. It’s legitimate to show loyalty to employees, especially as they are on site for 35-40 hours a week while the volunteer may be present for only a few hours. But, each situation must be considered on its own merits without assuming that the employee is always right or always has the greater stake in the outcome. Conversely, some assume that gratitude for the donation of time outweighs confronting poor behavior by a volunteer. But poor performance by 24 a volunteer needs to be addressed and an employee who is trying to set high standards should be backed up. Employees will be more likely to accept evaluation of their ability to work successfully with volunteers if they know that the same assessment will be made of volunteers. Otherwise the organization is sending a mixed message: We want you to accept volunteers as equals, but we won’t hold them to equal standards. Once the manager has assured that the staff has received the necessary training in how to work with volunteers, the next step is to reinforce the process by monitoring and evaluating them on whether they are carrying out this job function appropriately. The best way to do this is to set aside time on a regular basis to pay attention to the subject. For example, the manager can: • Ask questions about what volunteers contributed to any activity, and expect volunteers to be mentioned in written and oral reports. • Discuss the progress of any new volunteer and how the employee is supporting the newcomer. • Invite volunteers doing work relJANUARY 1, 2008 There might be times that the middle manager needs to act as an objective third party to settle disputes between the employee and any volunteers. evant to what’s on the agenda to participate in conferences or staff meetings as members of the team. • Put the subject of volunteers, in general, on the agenda of staff meetings: How is it going? Any concerns? Anything we need to troubleshoot? How do we say thank you for extra effort? • Evaluate how effective staff members are in working with volunteers and include feedback on this as a part of any annual or periodic performance review. The most important reinforcement www.nptimes.com for excelling in working with volunteers is acknowledgement.The middle manager can say “great job!” to the employee who has clearly supported a volunteer; announce accomplishments of volunteers and their staff supervisor, by name, at staff meetings; and recognize successful employee/volunteer teams in reports about the unit submitted to upper management. The point, as always, is not to assume that middle managers are on board with what it takes to support those who are expected to supervise volunteers.Take time to discover what this layer of management really thinks and win their enthusiasm for volunteer involvement. Otherwise, frontline staff will be caught in the middle, expected by top executives to put effort into partnering with volunteers, but undercut at the unit or branch level by the person most influential to that employee’s job assessment. NPT Susan J. Ellis is president of Energize, a Philadelphia-based training, publishing and consulting firm specializing in volunteerism. She can be reached via email at susan@energizeinc.com. Her Web site is www.energizeinc.com THE NONPROFIT TIMES http://www.afpnet.org http://www.energizeinc.com http://www.nptimes.com

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The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2008 Expenses Continue To Put Stress On Nonprofit Budgets Insuring Donors’ Goodwill Volunteers On Firing Line Contents Who...When...Where...How...What? Red Cross Audit Comes Up Clean Exit Doors Rear And Aft Calendar A Fresh Look Special Report: Accounting APIs Opportunity Is Knocking Middle Management Barrier Memorial NPT Jobs Resource Directory

The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2008

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