MORE ABOUT KEN

Ken Phillips has devoted his life to working with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the United States, Eastern and Western Europe, and other regions of the world. On this website and in his books, he shares what he has learned in sixty years. His research includes work as fundraiser and executive, consulting with some sixty clients, scores of three-day workshops, and thousands of semi-structured interviews with NGO executives, fundraisers, board members, donors, and evaluators on what makes a nonprofit succeed and what makes it fail.

As a youth, he was fascinated by the stories of heroes in history, literature, and mythology and was guided by the values he learned at church. The guidance from his parents was formative. His businessman dad often said: “Whatever you do, do it well.” His more spiritual mom always said: “Whatever you do, do something good.” Ken later said: “My career was destined.”

Ken’s career as fundraiser and executive leader

 

As a student at Princeton, he fundraised two paid traineeship offers for foreign students and as a leader he motivated and trained other students to raise six more traineeship offers. As a graduate student at University of Michigan, he founded the AIESEC committee and trained students to raise seven traineeship offers and then chaired the national conference raising $25,000 ($253,000 in 2024 currency! Based on CPI increases according to measuringworth.com) for travel and accommodations for 100 students from around the country. Then as the elected National President, he led a doubling of university local committees and increased traineeship offers by 50% in two years between 1964 and 1966.

As Project Development Coordinator and Fundraiser at the Institute of International Education, he developed new international study programs called Project City Streets for African Americans and new programs for international students in the US and secured funding from the Ford Foundation and others for its implementation. He developed and oversaw a successful 50th anniversary campaign, engaged key staff in supporting the fundraising planning and outreach with resulting funding from corporations, individuals, foundations, universities, volunteers, and events for a mortgage burning and innovative programs ($18.5 million in 2024 currency).

As VP for Fundraising at Save the Children US, he drafted its first fundraising strategic plan and implemented a complete rebranding. He drafted a new program strategy that was also effective for fundraising, improved direct mail and media advertising with excellent results, and then convinced the Program VP to transfer a significant amount from his budget to expand fundraising for two years that would significantly increase total revenues and the program budget (it worked). He put in place a new advertising code of ethics with five other charities. He quadrupled public awareness and tripled income to $22.7 million in 10 years ($72.8 million in 2024 currency).

As Executive Director at Plan International USA, he launched successive strategic plans for fundraising with strong support from other staff, proposed growth-oriented three-year fundraising budgets and goals and exceeded each one. He supervised 100 HQ staff, professionalized fundraising and donor service staff, transformed the board with new members with expertise in fundraising, marketing, market research, finance, and program, and then created a prestigious honorary board. With excellent staff, he refined test marketing for new copy, reply devices, and media, tested different price levels for monthly giving, initiated new marketing methods (2 minute TV ads, 2 hour celebrity hosted telethons, and ‘each one reach one’ for new sponsors), developed ‘lifetime value’ of new donors based on data that improved acquisition and retention, and oversaw new education programs that increased donor retention. Overall results were a quadrupling of public awareness and a tripling of revenues to $30 million in 10 years ($66 million in 2024 currency).

At the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) as a consultant in Uganda and Belarus, he helped them expand capacities and grow revenues. As a lecturer in fundraising and leadership for global leaders, he increased understanding of strategies and skills needed for growth and development. As Head of Organizational Development, he drafted new theory for National Society development, supervised a dozen graduate student interns, provided comprehensive guidance documents, succeeded to develop IFRC and ICRC common approaches to support National Societies grow and develop, and laid the basis for a subsequent international board resolution which required strong integrity assessments, peer review, and possible sanctions (loss of membership), all to improve the image, impact and fundraising of its 190 National Societies.

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Consulting and training through NGO Futures LLC

Ken Phillips launched his consulting and training career for NGOs in 1994 in Geneva, Switzerland, for new NGOs supporting orphans in Eastern European eight countries. Building on his experience and success as fundraiser, executive, and board member, he established NGO Futures LLC in 1995 to support for NGOs around the world. Over the next three decades, he provided consulting for 60 clients on five continents and hundreds of trainings for NGO fundraisers and executives from more than 100 countries, always with a priority on capacity building and fundraising development as well as ethics. His theme is “Working Together for a Better World through Strategy, Teamwork, and Leadership.”

Over two decades, he took American best practice in leadership, fundraising, and management to fundraisers and other executives of new NGOs in former Soviet countries who had little to no experience with nonprofits and civil society and knew very little about their new professional work in fundraising and management – thousands of people trained in hundreds of three-day workshops in these 18 countries.

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At Medicines for Malaria, he guided the staff and board to a quadrupling of income in 3 years ($5 million to $20 million) and $60 million a few years later based on his training. In addition to effective strategic planning for fundraising, one key step was when program staff learned they could help in fundraising, they began making connections and finding leads at global health conferences with major donors.

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For CARE International, he consulted with staff in fundraising strategies, guided CARE Japan in initiating new private-sector fundraising, trained field personnel in Asia in their responsibilities for fundraising, and researched new fundraising potential in several European countries.

He provided training in fundraising and related organizational development for participants ranging from 20 to 70 in sessions for Ukrainian Institute of Professional Fundraising, Romanian Civil Society Development Federation, Connecticut Association of Nonprofits, Mexican YZ Proyextos de Dessarrallo, CPAs in Puerto Rico for their NGO clients, and others.

He had numerous repeat assignments from USAID and IREX, Swedish International Development Agency, Catholic Relief/Caritas, Forums for NGO from Black Sea countries, HelpAge International, International Red Cross, International Youth Foundation, National Center for Healthy Housing, SOS Childrens Villages, and others. For United Nations Family Planning Association, he developed and introduced a new private fundraising strategy.