CHCA growth strategy outlined
by JAMES STURDIVANT
A fundraising expert and a founding partner of a local public relations firm gave a joint presentation to the executive committee of the Chestnut Hill Community Association at their monthly meeting last week, offering an analysis of the challenges facing the organization as it considers embarking on an ambitious endowment and membership drive.
Alison Grove, a former vice president of marketing at the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce who has raised millions for arts organizations, and Vince Powers of Devine & Powers Communications Group, LLC were introduced by committee member John Shea, who said the two were “committed to the area and wanted to be involved in the future of Chestnut Hill.”
Grove said that, in discussions with the CHCA’s development committee, several key goals were identified, the most important being to raise public awareness of the CHCA and what they would do.
“We realized this was not universally understood in this community,” Grove, a Chestnut Hill resident, said. “Externally, people need to see you as a strong, unified organization with a clear mission and the ability to deliver on that mission.”
Powers said that the goal of his analysis was to look at the group from a “third party perspective” and make recommendations for marketing strategies that would dovetail with any fundraising effort. Providing an outside perspective, he said, allows strategies to be developed for reaching previously untapped groups.
A packet accompanying the presentation outlined challenges, tactics and goals for a proposed marketing campaign. According to the report, challenges include a lack of understanding of the CHCA and what it does, a perception of a “fragmented group at war with itself,” a “less than positive relationship” with the Local, perceptions that the CHCA is interested in taking over valued neighborhood programs and the organization’s lack of visibility outside Chestnut Hill.
Recommendations include repositioning the group as a “unified and organized organization” with clear plans and goals articulated by a board and staff willing to stay on message. A media relations campaign targeting local papers with positive op-eds, editorials and letters to the editor would be developed; membership and community fund drives would be retooled.
“I don’t know that you have a sense of what your goals are,” Grove told the audience, which included, in addition to the executive committee, other CHCA board members, staff and members of the public. “Everybody has to know that you are a unified team, that you have a goal and you want to go after it.”
Board member Walter Sullivan asked how the strategy could be tailored to an organization designed for public debate. “How does this work with a parliamentary body?” he asked.
Grove responded that, while dissent is useful, it should occur in private.
“Help people understand that what happens behind closed doors doesn’t matter,” she said.
“But it’s not behind closed doors,” committee member Mark Keintz said.
Echoing a point made by Powers about the need for “base level consensus,” committee member Tia Burke said that such consensus should come from the board’s vote.
“There’s not much disagreement on what we do, but on how we do it,” Burke said.
After a motion was made to recommend to the full board that Grove and Devine & Powers be retained, a freewheeling discussion ensued regarding fees and the need for a public forum on the hiring.
In response to a question from local resident Ed Feldman about the cost of the development and marketing experts’ services, the committee said that a figure of $90,000 reported in the Local was the amount budgeted, not the actual fee, which has yet to be determined.
Feldman also asked if other firms were considered. Shea said that others were looked at, but that they were “exceedingly expensive.” He added that, because Grove lives in Chestnut Hill, she already “knows the organization and what it does.”
While Shea and CHCA president Maxine Dornemann were supportive of the idea of a community meeting to discuss adoption of the study, committee member Sanjiv Jain was opposed to the idea.
“We’re talking about an organization hiring a firm to do a service. That is not something for a public forum,” he said. The community could get involved once the firm was hired, he said.
Jain, a member of the development committee, noted that Grove had already devoted a lot of her time to the project without receiving payment.
A comment from board member Anne Ward Spaeth that the committee was spending the “community’s money” met with disagreement from committee member Tom Kessler.
“It’s the member’s money,” he said. “That’s an important point.” Kessler said that the public needs a better understanding of the difference between money given to the nonprofit Chestnut Hill Community Fund, which assists community groups and local improvement projects, and the Community Association.
It was eventually agreed that the development committee should work to fill in the details of Grove and Powers’ proposal before presenting the idea to the full board, including a schedule for implementation of the study, fees, how they would be paid and contract details.
“Any discussion before the board that does not include fees and scope of work … is pointless,” committee member Jeremy Heep said.
