You've Gotta Have Heart

The CEO of one of America's most respected organizations shows nonprofits how to go from good to great.We all know that the definition for success in the corporate world is fairly straightforward. To be considered great, companies first need to turn a profit. For organizations in the social sector, however, the challenge is much bigger. To be truly effective, they must stay relevant and, above all, stay true to their mission. For the past 26 years, Cass Wheeler has ensured that the American Heart Association has fulfilled its calling to save lives and educate the public about heart disease by adopting some of the same strategies used in the for-profit sector. In You've Gotta Have Heart, he shows people at all levels of a nonprofit how to make sure their hard work really pays off.Using examples of some of the most lauded organizations including the American Heart Association, The American Cancer Society and The Girl Scouts of America, as well as many others, Wheeler reveals the leadership skills that will help employees, volunteers, and board members excel at their jobs, become good role models, and build a more visionary, creative, and disciplined nonprofit organization. Readers will discover: * why a mission statement is not the same as a sense of mission * the characteristics of successful nonprofit leaders * how to combine the nonprofit mission with the management lessons of the business world * how to define an organization's core values and business modelFilled with honest, practical and thoughtful lessons from the author's own experience, this book will ensure that nonprofits of every size continue to do great and be great.

Cass wheeler (Dallas, TX) is the longtime Chief Executive Officer of the American Heart Association. Mr. Wheeler is currently on the boards of Partnership for Prevention, National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids, and Research!America. He has been with the AHA for 35 years and served as CEO for 11 years.

C O N T E N T S Acknowledgments vii Introduction: Leading with Heart: A Purpose Beyond Profit 1 1: A Mission Statement Is Not the Same as a Sense of Mission 18 2: When Everyone Points North: Developing a Clear Decision-Making Framework and Business Model 37 3: The Power of a Breakthrough Goal 61 4: Break Out the Big Brass Brand 74 5: Bold Moves and Best Practices 102 6: Building the Best Staff 120 7: Inspiring the Best Work: Managing Nonprofit Employees 143 8: Recruiting and Guiding Volunteers and the Board of Directors 156 9: Influencing Public Policy: Nonprofit Advocacy and Lobbying 180 10: Heart-to-Heart Alliances: Becoming a Partner of Choice 198 Conclusion 219 Notes 221 Index 223

I N T R O D U C T I O N LEADING WITH HEART A Purpose Beyond Profit When Jeannie was born in February 1986, she was to be immediately given up for adoption. But because she had a serious heart defect and other medical issues, her adoptive parents-to-be backed out. A second family, the Bornemanns, claimed Jeannie as their daughter. They saw her for the first time when she was just three days old. She had IVs in her head, chest, and both hands and feet, and she had tubes in her nose. Their first words were "Hi, teeny Jeannie! Mommy and Daddy are here!" Jeannie had an extremely rare set of conditionstransposition of the great vessels, pulmonary stenosis, and a ventricular septal defect. Her heart's chambers and arteries were reversed. Not much was known about this condition thenmore research was desperately needed. Jeannie's doctors inserted a flexible tube called a shunt to increase blood flow. It was all they could do. They hoped that she would get bigger and stronger and that research would provide new knowledge and tools to help them help her. Jeannie didn't grow normally. When she was 5, she weighed just 22 pounds and was 29 inches tall. But she was finally strong enough for the corrective surgery that doctors had been waiting to do. Jeannie's quality of life improved a lot after her surgery. She went to school, played T-ball and soccer, and followed her medical instructions without complaint. Despite a severe hearing impairment, she became a fanatic music lover, especially the music of Elvis. She loved people and life and looked like any other normal, healthy kidexcept she was hearing impaired, legally blind, and undersized and had a heart defect. In 1999, at age 13, Jeannie was looking forward to spending a week at a special camp. It was a place where kids with heart disease could make friends, share experiences, and enjoy hiking, fishing, horseback riding, making crafts, and singing around the campfirewhile being supervised by doctors, nurses, and other volunteer camp counselors. Swimming was a favorite activity, because, since all the kids have surgical scars, no one is embarrassedthey even compare scars! The day be