Remote Major Gift Officers

Insights

One of the challenges of universities with national alumni constitutencies, and of statewide nonprofits they need to cover large territories is how to provide major gift staffing. While, for control issues, you would love to have everyone centralized in one office and travel as needed, for large states in the West and for national programs, this isn't realistic.

You'll need to find people who can work on their own out of home offices connecting with your electronically.

As a member of national consulting firm, Campbell & Company, we face the same issues. With the home office in Chicago, those of us in regional offices face unique challenges.

I just read a fascinating article recently, "Away from the Deak . . . Always" in The Wall Street Journal. Authors David Pauleen and Brian Harmer (lecturers at Massey University and Victoria University) call these type of people "nanobots: Not in the Office, doing Business in Their Own Time. Staff."

• Empowered by mobile devices


• Remote access to corporate networks


• Long Hours


• Driven nature, self-starting, high achievers who produce strong results with a minimum of supervision


• Entrusted with personal freedom to get their work done

Of course, we'd all love this type of person working for our organization. But, how much freedom should they have? And, how do you find staff like this?

The authors note: "For many nanobots, success is defined in highly personal terms, such as problems solved, or influence wielded as a consequence of personal credibility."

So what?

I'm not sure yet except to note that global corporations may be way ahead of nonprofit organizations in dealing with nanobots. Let me know if you'e solved this yet. Let's all check with our globalized volunteers to see what their companies have learned.

Photo courtesy www.greenpeace.org

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