Fundraising is Hard Work. Every Fundraiser Needs That "Someone" in Their Corner

If you work at any one thing long enough, you get to experience both success and failure. Hopefully, you learn what works and what doesn’t work. If you are a slow learner like me, it may take you years to figure it all out, but once you do – you gain a great deal of confidence in how to tackle your work.

I’ve worked in prospect development for 27 years. Long before it was even called prospect development.  I’ve worked at six non-profits which includes three universities, two hospitals and one cause specific organization. I think I’ve learned a thing or two about development and fundraising as a whole.  That includes the people who fill the various roles in the fundraising effort.

My life experiences mean something.  At least I hope they do.  There are times when my head becomes so full of ideas and thoughts about fundraising that I feel like I’m going to explode. 

There’s a scene in the original Rocky, where Mickey (Burgess Meredith) goes to Rocky’s apartment to ask him if he can be Rocky’s manager.  He says “I have all this knowledge up here (pointing to his head) and I want to give it you.”

That’s how I feel sometimes; maybe even a lot of the time. I want my fundraisers to benefit from my having had a front row seat in the development arena for all these years.  I want the organization I work for to be successful and also benefit from my years of experience.

I’m at that point in my life where I know what I know. 

I’m certain I understand what it takes to be an effective fundraiser and what it takes for an organization to achieve its fundraising goals.  I can spend a short amount of time with a fundraiser and know if they “get it” or if they’re just going through the motions.  I’m confident that if I’m working with the right group of fundraisers, we can achieve a very high level of success.

Let me explain.

First of all, fundraising is hard work.  It’s extremely hard work.  It’s challenging and it can wear you down if you let it.  That’s because the effort you have to put forward has to be monumental in scale.  Some people never understand that and fail to embrace it.  They start to look for short cuts and an easier way or worse – they shy away from it all together.

Now, I’m all for finding an easier way – but what that usually means to me is finding a more strategic way of doing things.  Even then – the work is still going to be hard and the effort is still going to be on a monumental scale.

Again, you can’t escape that. 

Fundraisers are going to have to make a lot of calls just to get appointments and they’re going to have to do a lot of qualification work just to find those individuals whose passion and ability to give align with the mission of their organizations.

This is where prospect development can help.  It’s all about the story; the story behind the donor and the story tied to their giving.  This is what we know how to do. It’s the core of what we do.  We are the dot connectors.  We’re the one who can make sense of a large database and help a fundraiser focus on the right people. 

What we can’t do is provide you with a magical list of names that are sure to give and give significantly.  No one can do that.  No one.

However, we can make the process easier, but it’s still not going to be “easy.”  We can help you be more strategic, but you still have to put in a great deal of effort.  It’s still going to be hard and somewhat overwhelming, but we know how to give you a pathway to success.

I keep emphasizing how hard the work is.  I do that because I don’t ever want you to underestimate that. 

Every donor is unique.  Every donor’s story is special.  Our job (and when I say “our” job, I mean yours and mine) is to uncover each donor’s story.  That takes time. That takes effort.  That takes an approach that’s authentic and unique to each and every donor.

More times than not – we aren’t going to learn the story and in those cases – our chances for success will be slim.  That’s okay.  We’ll move on from that and on to the next story. 

Sound overwhelming?

Well, it is.  But when we find that special donor – whose story and whose passion aligns with our organization’s mission, it’s going to be magical.  It may even be transformational.

The goal for prospect development has always been to find the people in our databased (and in rare occasions outside of it) who’s passion, interests and desire to give match the mission of our organizations and the projects and programs that sustain it.  That group can’t be identified by the assets they hold.  They can’t be identified by the titles they have and they can’t even necessarily be identified by the gifts they’ve given to other organizations.

Those things can be factors, but it’s not the best way to segment your database.  Some fundraisers have a hard time accepting that. 

We’re not necessarily looking for the wealthy.  I think way too many fundraisers think that major gift bar is higher than it really is.  I believe every donor should be given the opportunity to be a major donor.  And those donors come in all shapes and sizes, but at their core they have “something” in common. 

We are looking for a very specific individual who has not only has the ability to give, but also has an affinity for what we are doing.  They’re likely to be very similar to others in our database who are already giving major gifts, but not necessarily similar in the way you might think.

Their titles are irrelevant.  Their hard asset data is even irrelevant.

They have very specific attributes that aren’t on their resumes or in their LinkedIn profile.  And most importantly, those attributes are specific to our organizations.  Our donors (yours and mine) have a certain DNA and the more people we can find with a similar DNA, the more likely we are to find success in our fundraising.

And then there’s the timing of it all.  So many variables have to come together in order for us to achieve our fundraising goals.  There is definitely a process behind it all.  I say that knowing that a great many fundraisers don’t necessarily like process. 

Prospect Development can help with that.  We can do a lot of things.  In fact, we can do so much more if you just trust us enough to let us.

Have I piqued your interest?

I’ll end this post here.  The “how” of all of this is for another day.  The take-away from this post is all about how difficult fundraising is and how important it is to have a process and a strategy in place to make things a little bit easier.  There’s a science to it all and we’ll jump into that next time.

Hiring Smart People is only the First Step

Not a week goes by without me seeing a quote from Steve Jobs on hiring: “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”

This quote pops up regularly; be it on LinkedIn or some other platform. It always generates lots of “likes” and even a comment or two, but when was the last time you felt this was actually happening?

If you’re a leader in a non-profit and more specifically in the development side of that non-profit – I’d like to know - do you practice this?

Seriously. Do you?

I am focusing on the development side of the house, because that’s the room I live in.  So – let me ask you this question in another way.  Do you hire people so that they can fill orders and be reactive to your needs or do you hire people who are going to find solutions to your organization’s fundraising goals and then give them the freedom to carry out a plan?

Think about that for a few moments.

Do you give project assignments and then tell your team how you want it done – or do you present the goal and let them figure it out?  Before you answer that question – let me ask you another one.

Why did you hire the team you have? 

Again, think about that for a few moments.

Any resume can tell you certain things about a person, but I’m guessing the reason people get hired has more to do with how they tell their story to perspective employers more than the things that are on their resume.

The stories are about how they accomplish things in their life.  It’s about the challenges they overcame and the lessons they learned.  I’m going to guess that most of their success came from the solutions they found on their own; the things they learned and implemented. 

Why not capitalize on their experience?

Do you really think you have all the answers?  Or can you benefit from someone who has had success and been a part of success in their past?  Do you invite meaningful conversations and discussions?  Are you open minded?  Are you willing to trust?

How many times have you hired someone because you thought they had something your organization needed?  How many times have you actually let them do something that proves you were right?

In my 25+ years in development and more specifically in prospect development, I’ve met a lot of incredible individuals.  Some of them are brilliant.  What makes them brilliant is that they’re not doing things the way they’ve always been done.  They see opportunities in innovation and they look for strategic ways to move forward.  They’re great listeners.  They know how to tell a story and they are out to find solutions and not credit.

They also never stop learning.  Best practices are a guide to the past, but not necessarily a path to the future.  Technology evolves and those who understand that are more likely to succeed. 

Fundraising is so full of “that’s the way we’ve always done it.”  It’s sad.

When was the last time your organization took a monumental leap in their fundraising?  How would you like to make that leap? Are you willing to do something different?  Are you willing to hire people who can tell you how to make that happen?  Have you actually already hired someone like that, but haven’t given them the green light to go for it?

I believe there are a great many of my colleagues in the fundraising realm who are frustrated because they’re not having an impact.  They want to be engaged at a level that makes them feel valued and trusted.  They don’t want to be second guessed and they don’t want to just fill requests for research or do the things that anyone can do with the proper training.

Fundraisers who understand the strategic value of an experienced prospect development professional know what I’m talking about. 

When innovation occurs, we’re usually the first ones to hear about it.  We know what’s coming before it becomes a trend. 

We knew about Google long before you had any idea there was something more than Yahoo.  We embraced analytics and modeling while you were still clinging to wealth indicators.  We understood why the millionaire next door wasn’t on your radar and we are growing tired of trying to convince you to go see the people we believe are the best major gift prospects even though they don’t fit your own idea of what that person should look like.

We are here to help make you successful so that the organizations we call home – are able to maximize their potential.

The last thing any CEO or president wants to worry about is fundraising.  They want to focus on the mission and goals of their organizations. 

Great prospect development professionals can make that a reality.  If you’re willing to hire a smart person to do something special for your organization – for goodness sakes, let them do exactly that.  Get out of their way.  Embrace what you might not understand and trust those who do.

Or…Keep doing what you’ve always done.  The choice is yours. Don’t be afraid to act.

Please don’t misunderstand this as an “us vs. them” rant.  We are all in this together, the problem is we just haven’t been “together.”  It’s time that we were – but more of you on the frontline fundraising side of things need to do more than invite us to the party; you need to ask us to dance and even let us introduce you to a new way to dance.