There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.

– MARGARET WHEATLEY

partnership

north texas funders initiative

The North Texas Funders Initiative is a collaborative, three-year partnership between The Dallas Foundation, RevJen Group, and a forward-thinking group of Funders that includes The Jenesis Group, Lyda Hill Philanthropies, Rainwater Charitable Foundation, and The George & Fay Young Foundation. Formed to bring together dedicated resources in support of area nonprofit leaders and their organizations, this initiative seeks to combat three pervasive, interlinked sector issues:

Financial Sustainability. Organizations are frequently unable to develop reliable, repeatable revenue that sustains the organization and its mission.
Development Talent Turnover. Sector leaders are turning over in record numbers.
Leadership Isolation and Burnout. The nonprofit sector is filled with passionate leaders who don’t believe they can invest in themselves, leading to feelings of isolation and burnout.

The goal of this partnership is to equip North Texas leaders with the tools, framework, and support to help leaders thrive. This partnership aims to provide scholarships for RevJen Group programs to more than 300 North Texas nonprofit leaders per year.

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Why We Do This Work

16-18 months is average tenure of fundraising professionals, costing 2-3x salary each time you turn over.
More than half of development directors anticipate resigning in two years or less. In an industry predicated on strong interpersonal relationships, a high turnover of fundraising staff constricts organizational growth.
A recent Predictive Index study found that when a leader is NOT burned out, only 22% of their staff feels burned out. BUT when the leader IS burned out, 73% of staff feels the same way.
The Covid pandemic has only further exacerbated these long-standing sector issues.

We believe that it has never been more important to invest in the development and support of nonprofit leaders. The North Texas Funders Initiative seeks to lead the way in community-wide, funder-led support of nonprofit leadership development in the hopes of reframing the narrative in the sector around this type of investment.

Ways to Participate

R-SQUARED PEER GROUPS

Rolling cohorts launching June, 2022

R-Squared Peer Groups is a professionally facilitated peer group experience designed exclusively for nonprofit leaders. Designed to combat turnover-inducing isolation and burnout, R-Squared gives nonprofit leaders the time and confidential space each month to tackle real-time issues, opportunities, and challenges through a structured, professionally facilitated process.

Membership in R-Squared provides leaders with the ability to:

Connect with a thoughtfully curated network of peers in similar organizational roles
Uncover and process real-time issues, opportunities, and challenges – and share best practices
Expand your outlook by learning from leaders in diverse backgrounds and missions
Build a community of advisors with a unique understanding of your challenges and needs
Give yourself the dedicated time and space to enrich your journey and grow as a leader

Scholarship opportunities are available for annual membership in R-Squared Peer Groups ($3,000 value) through the North Texas Funders Initiative to eligible leaders.

GROUPS ARE BEING FORMED NOW – APPLY HERE

FUEL SERIES WORKSHOPS

Cohorts launching Q3, 2022

Designed to sharpen revenue strategy, address root causes (vs. symptoms) of revenue challenges, and provide real-time revenue capacity-building. These professionally facilitated, cohort-based workshops are provided to full organizational leadership teams, to provide you with the knowledge and tools to make effective development decisions. Teams participate in engaged learning exercises using a combination of your own organizational information and industry case studies.

Revenue Model – Analyze existing revenue model and craft a future revenue model profile
Revenue Strategy – Define the people, processes, and systems needed to execute the revenue model
Organizational Design – Identify the roles, skills, and organizational structure needed to accomplish revenue goals
Resource Allocation – Create a tool to help define the functions and costs of managing the organization and make strategic decisions to stay on track
Revenue Culture – Conduct a revenue culture assessment to understand how your practices can shift and evolve to accomplish revenue goals

Scholarship opportunities are available for leadership teams to participate in Fuel Series Workshops ($7,500 value) through the North Texas Funders Initiative to eligible organizations.

First NTXFI Fuel Cohort Dates:

7/12, 7/19, 7/26, 8/2, 8/9, and 8/16 held virtually from 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. CDT

Interested? Join us for a Fuel Q&A Session

Thursday 5/26 @ 10 a.m. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81388899005
Thursday 6/2 @ 11:30 a.m. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85448054847
Friday 6/3 @ 10 a.m. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89750934888
Thursday 6/9 @ 1:30 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89750934888

Can’t make a Fuel Session? Stay in the know – JOIN OUR INTEREST LIST HERE

Learn More

Leaders, don’t miss out on this valuable leadership development opportunity! Need to learn more? Watch a past Info Session or view our Initiative One Pager.