Is anyone home?
Recently, I had two experiences within days of each other that confirmed for me—unfortunately—that too many nonprofits fail to train their staff to be what I call “investor aware”.
Occasionally, I have the privilege of representing a wealthy patron who is interested in making a significant investment in a particular nonprofit.
In the first case, I phoned the local representative of a national organization to convey my interest. I was very clear who I was and who I represented. I needed to speak with the CEO of the organization to move the process forward.
Here is the proverbial-gift horse making his appearance.
I finally received a follow-up email THREE WEEKS after my original call. From that I learned I’ll receive a call from a member of the fundraising staff and then, perhaps the CEO.
I had offered the possibility of a nine-figure gift. I had made it crystal clear I wanted to speak personally with the CEO.
And this was the response. We’ll see if it goes any further. For my part, I think the patron has pretty much moved on.
Concurrent to this was my experience of the poor telephone etiquette of another organization. I had already had lunch with the CEO and was calling to talk about next steps regarding a potential significant investment. The CEO phoned me but left a voicemail. I returned the call to the number provided which was a general number. The first person who answered asked my name twice—this after I had already provided it.
I said that I was returning the CEO’s call. I was then transferred and the next person who answered went through the third degree asking me my name (twice), then asking why I was calling—I had already told her I was returning the CEO’s call to me, then asking what my business was, then finally suggesting that perhaps someone else could speak with me.
After all of this, I finally got the CEO on the phone who answered delighted to hear from me. She seemed totally unaware of the obstacle course I had been running.
Does anyone train their staff anymore?
Are these organizations even aware of the damage their doing to their relationships with investors?
Perhaps they’re so damn focused on automating their interactions with investors using AI, email and texting they’ve completely lost the ability to actually engage in a conversation.
Everyone seems to want to focus on the outcomes in fundraising. Money.
To be effective in fund development—fundraising to some—your organization needs to have the right fundraising identity. Every single member of your organization from the board and the c-suite to all the staff and even volunteers must have the same mental paradigm of what philanthropy is and how it works. Each person needs to know their particular role in the fundraising drama and how to fill it.
Only when you’ve achieved a uniform culture do you know the techniques and processes in fundraising that will work for you.
To be truly effective in fundraising start in a different place.
When we’re raising money for our charitable causes the default place to start is to set a goal. Determine where we want to end up.
After all it’s about providing the critical resources, we need to deliver on our mission.
Allow me to make a modest suggestion. Why not examine your starting place, first?
You see, being successful in fundraising, hugely successful, is NOT about what you’re doing so much. It’s about who you are. It’s about your organization’s understanding of their role and then executing it to perfection.
It’s about the way your thinking. It’s about the assumptions you’re making.
Your organization’s paradigm of philanthropy literally determines your fundraising capacity.
That’s amount you can raise no matter how hard your work, what things you do, how many people you ask.
To raise more—and keep it—you need to adjust your paradigm securing philanthropic support. Your entire organization must do this.
Develop a common fundraising identify, execute it well through the processes that work for you.
You’ll be amazed at the growth and consistency of your fundraising results.
Here at The Eight Principles, we provide the only the training curriculum which directly addresses organizational identity and culture for ALL your staff and volunteers.
It’s available and affordable to nonprofits small and not so small.
Give us a call and we’ll show you how it works and the permanent sustained results which can be yours,