Fundraising Leadership ™

Executive Coaching, Leadership Training, and Personal Development

Mythbusting: The Secret to Successful Grant Writing

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A stone bust of ZuesMyth: a traditional story from early history explaining nature typically involving supernatural beings or events. 

One myth you have probably heard is about the ancient Greek myth of Zeus hurling thunderbolts from on high at Mount Olympus because he was unhappy. And when you hear thunder crashing, it’s just Zeus and his thunderbolts.

Grant seeking can feel as mysterious and magical as Zeus—like funders are sitting on high, randomly awarding grants to those who are lucky enough to be in their path. Many grantmaking organizations still operate without transparency in their review and awards processes—an old-fashioned approach that is now changing, thankfully.

Without access to the inner workings of foundation and other granting agencies, decades of speculation from nonprofit leaders, board members, staffers, and the general public led to some false assumptions about grants. In other words, myths begat more myths.

There are a few significant myths we’d like to “bust” for you today. Understanding what is true about grants will improve your skills as a grant seeker or leader of a resource development team. Here are five of the most common myths about grants with the reality and a reality check behind each. [Read more…]

Choosing a Stand Over a Position

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compass

Having an agreed understanding of what a word means – a distinction – enables us to have different conversations, which can enable us to achieve better results. For example, back in 2019 relatively few people knew what a Zoom call was. Today, millions of us share that distinction.

One distinction I have found particularly helpful is the difference between a position and a stand.

A position is against something – a negative reaction to something we don’t agree with. We hear about this a lot these days in politics, in the news, and especially on social media. That’s largely because it’s relatively easy to say what we don’t agree with, to object to an idea or another person’s view. We can find ourselves triggered when we hear or read a comment we particularly don’t like. We experience a feeling that comes from somewhere deep inside, which seems to rise up from the stomach. But the very existence of a position depends on its counter-position. In other words, take that counter-position away and our position can no longer survive. [Read more…]

The Capital Fundraising Campaign that Nearly Killed Me

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overwhelmed at work

Being goal-oriented made me a powerful fundraising leader, but it also nearly killed me. 

I had been in fundraising for nearly two decades when I found myself in the final push of a capital campaign to fund the construction of a new hospital in central Maine.  The project was deeply personal to me – a state-of-the-art hospital to replace two aging 60’s-era hospitals in towns less than 20 miles apart.  Each hospital had a proud history and feelings were very mixed about replacing them.  People were reluctant to accept change even when change meant access to more services, specialities and better technology.  This was particularly true in my hometown of Waterville, Maine where Thayer Hospital, once considered one of the best small regional hospitals in New England and the place I was born, would lose its in-patient services.  When the project was announced, there were protests in the streets.  My job was to overcome those objections and create donors out of skeptics.  

At first, the challenge was exhilarating.  It was also terrifying.  I was charged with raising more money than the hospital had ever raised.  About a year into the campaign, I was asked to manage the design process as well, leading a group of internal leaders in making decisions about the hospital’s furnishings, signage and wayfinding, art and donor recognition.  I was flattered to be asked, so I immediately accepted. But the additional responsibility loaded my already full schedule with even more meetings – almost like having a second job. [Read more…]

My First Tiara: A Fundraiser Is Born!

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If you are new to a fundraising role, you may know more than you think! In the hunt for a tiara and a college resume activity, I learned how much I already knew as a teenager, seeking my very own “Queen of Hearts” tiara – and some of what I learned about fundraising, I still use today.

I was an over-achieving junior in high school when I was invited to participate in the Central New Jersey chapter of the American Heart Association’s “Queen of Hearts” program. A pageant? There would be a party and I needed a red dress. My first reaction: I was definitely the wrong girl for that job.

But as my mom’s friend (I now realize she was an ideal event committee member) patiently and persuasively explained, this was a chance to take on a new challenge and add an impressive extracurricular to my college applications. Oh, right! Suddenly, she was speaking my language. And that is how before I really knew what I was signing up for, I was hooked. [Read more…]

When it’s Time to Go – Firing Crummy Board Members

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We’ve come a long way. Surviving the challenges of 2020 was difficult. Many nonprofits folded or were drastically injured. Some boards were frozen and lackluster in responding to the crisis we all endured. Poor performance in times of adversity will have long-lasting effects that may take years to repair, so firing crummy nonprofit board members can become necessary.

[Read more…]

Diversifying and Democratizing Fundraising: A Call to Action for Leaders

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A photo of the tips of coloured pencils

To say it has been a challenging few years in North America, is truly an understatement. The pandemics of COVID-19 along with racism have impacted us all, though not equitably. These pandemics have touched and changed all aspects of our private and professional lives, and the fundraising sector has not been immune to the changes foisted upon us. A sector synonymous with helping, has been forced to reckon with the cultural norms and values that have long been accepted and recognize these are not inclusive, in some cases are harmful, and have been designed and enacted on the same foundations of privilege and oppression that plague all other institutions in our society. Many nonprofits and charities were paralytic in their response to the racial justice uprisings across the continent, others took a watch and wait approach, and some accepted the notion that their response may be imperfect but were comfortable with the idea of potential failure in lieu of not being responsive. 

Many nonprofits and charities have indeed been founded or evolved to respond to intractable social challenges that are compounded by race, gender expression, sexual orientation, disability, and other intersectional identities. The response to, and in some case non-response to the pandemics as it pertains to program delivery and fundraising has been a matter of mission fulfillment and survival; however, all nonprofit organizations have had to consider how the inequities that are borne in almost all institutions in Western society impact their staff – some see this as the right thing to do and no more, and others see it is imperative to sustainability. While COVID-19 has become a part of our lexicon, so too is the language of EDI – equity, diversity, and inclusion. Sector conversations about pay equity, intersectionality, reconciliation, decolonization, anti-oppression and more that were once part of the sidelines in our sector – seen as the work of interest groups, have now taken center stage.  [Read more…]

Lessons Learned by Putting my Head Through a Windshield

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I graduated from college with a shiny new degree that I thought would take me far. Instead, it took me to central New York State to a radio station at the top of a mountain.

On day one, I was excited to learn how to sell radio commercials. My new manager shared the station’s staff drama, of which there was a ton, and gave me a cassette tape as training. He also sent me out for one day of shadowing his most successful salesperson, who got himself an ice cream cone after each close.

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Fundraisers Have Power, Too

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Meryl Streep is The Devil Wears PradaI’m sitting in an exquisitely appointed waiting room in midtown Manhattan prior to an enormous solicitation when my phone starts blowing up. My dean’s flight to JFK is delayed. She will not be making it to midtown for said enormous solicitation. But cool, I think to my clueless 27-year-old self, I can totally do this solo. I can build all the rapport, I can say all the talking points, I can listen twice as closely. It will be just like when my dean is here!

When I am ushered into the Devil-Wears-Prada-looking office, the donor is eyeing me suspiciously. There’s a huge ashtray on her desk – the size of a serving platter. Of all the intimidating things in this scene, the ashtray got to me. It said that rules and norms for mere mortals/fundraisers don’t apply to her.

She took a dramatic drag off her cigarette, continued to eye me, and then exhaled as I stood there like a dork, watching her.

“Had I known it would just be YOU, I wouldn’t have taken this meeting,” she said. [Read more…]

Some Pants Are Better To Travel Without

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I want to talk about Traveling Pants – but I don’t mean the same thing as the young adult series of books.  Those were about an actual pair of jeans that miraculously fit four totally differently shaped friends (really, now that I think about it, perhaps these books were magic realism as much as YA fiction) and connected them to each other.  I am talking about a metaphoric pair of pants or jeans that actually might fit one of your friends – but certainly don’t fit you.

Ultimately, some pants are better to travel without.

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Trailblazing a Path

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Rambling Through the Thicket of Professional Callings

One day, I woke up with the realization: This is my life. I asked myself: Am I doing what I love? Am I faithful to my professional callings, personal callings, and family and friends?

For those who may know me, I tend to take most of my energy and place it in one bucket: work. In many ways, this is great. I have gathered a lot of expertise in many areas; I am highly efficient and can be counted on as a valuable contributor and resource in various circumstances. But the real question I recently asked is: Am I doing what I love? And, do I love what I am doing?  Am I trailblazing a path that I set out for myself when I was younger and had envisioned the ‘adult’ version of myself?

[Read more…]