Fundraising IS a nonprofit’s business
I keep reading that the practice of medicine has changed radically.
Family doctors are getting hard to find. It seems we live in an age of specialists.
As the development director, it’s natural to assume your job is to be the organization’s fundraising specialist – the person with a particular craft and knowledge about raising money.
And of course, you need to be.
But I think fundraisers are actually more family doctors than specialists.
Here’s why: to be effective, we have to look at the organization as a whole.
We can’t raise money without diagnosing issues in organizational structure, board effectiveness, budgeting, and communications.
I’ve often been in staff meetings where everyone focuses on their particular tasks, and how those intersect with the organization. And I realize each time that I’m thinking about it all just the other way around.
Fundraising business: do we need to raise more money?
- Well, ok, then we need a functional, trained and enthusiastic board.
- We need an organizational structure that supports our programs and distributes resources logically.
- We need programs that move our mission forward.
- We need program staff to share great stories and collect accurate data.
- And we need great communications.
That means, to me, no tail wagging the dog. No tactics before strategy.
We need a clear vision of the organization, and the language to talk about it with.
Who are we? Why do we do what we do?
When there are holes in any of these areas, fundraising is hard to impossible.
So to colleagues in finance or programming or communications, to board members: we’re not trying to be busy-bodies.
We’re not trying to overstep our bounds. And we don’t want your job.
But we do need to understand your job. And we do need to know we’re all working well together.
Because without you, we can’t do our job.
Michael J. Rosen, CFRE says
Mary, your post reminded me of a an experience I had recently with a client. The small social service agency was on the verge of going out of business. So, they finally came around to the view that they should raise some private money rather than being solely dependent on government grants and earned revenue. I asked them two simple questions, “How much money do you want to raise? What will it be used for?” They came up with an outrageously large goal based on nothing. As for what the money would be used for, they had no idea. The organization had no strategic plan. It had no development plan.
So, the organization asked me, “How much do you think we can raise?” To answer the question, I looked at the tiny amount they had raised in the past and took the board through a prospect identification process. The outcome of the exercise pointed to the organization’s inability to raise much money at all.
To make matters worse, as organizational problems were uncovered, as the modest but realistic goal was set, as a case for support was developed, board members began to withdraw. Some actually resigned, but most simply ceased to participate in the planning and development process.
Sadly, the triage effort was only moderately effective. It’s a case of too little, too late. My client failed to review itself on a regular basis. It failed to have a strategic plan. It failed to recruit effective, engaged board members.
While we were able to delay the organization’s demise, I’d be surprised if we have avoided it altogether. However, at least they now have a window of opportunity to do the things they should have been doing all along.
This is a long-winded way of saying the point of your post is right on target. Effective fundraising depends on so much else in the organization. As development professionals, we’re in a unique position to help drive our organizations to address the issues beyond fundraising itself that impact fundraising.
Mary Cahalane says
Excellent example, Michael – thank you. A scary caution about what happens when the organization doesn’t look at the big picture. So many pieces need to be in the right place to make things work!
I appreciate your sharing that.
Beth says
Mary, I completely loved this post. In university I worked at a family practice residency for a part time job and began to understand the immense value of one “gatekeeper” doctor who understood physical and emotional needs of the patient and his/her environment. Fundraisers are exactly the same. It is not about understanding one “organ” (a program) because every bit of a nonprofit thinks they are the head! (But may I say fundraising is the heart?!)
I also strongly believe that the fundraisers have to set the example of cooperation in the organization. When people are afraid to share information in an organization (or even provide good communication) there is a serious problem.
Keep your posts coming!
Mary Cahalane says
Thanks, Beth. The most egregious example I’ve encountered was a finance director who refused to share budgets – as you can imagine, that made writing grants just about impossible.
But mostly, I think people are rightfully focused on their particular work. It’s just that we can’t stop there – not if we want the organization to succeed!
John Haydon says
Mary – I couldn’t agree with this statement more: “to be effective, we have to look at the organization as a whole”. Just yesterday, I had a call with a nonprofit who hired me to help with their Facebook ads. After some discussion, we realized their problem had more to do with content and their landing page.
With other orgs, we’ve concluded that the root of a problem was in their HR policy!
Nice work here, neighbor!
Mary Cahalane says
Thanks so much, John. I’m thrilled you commented! That’s a perfect example. I could easily see the response you received being: “Oh, well, someone else does the website. You just fix Facebook.” It’s like trying to fix a heart problem with a leg cast.
John Haydon says
Totally. And that’s why I love the work I do! It involves the whole organization.