Fundraising Leadership ™

Executive Coaching, Leadership Training, and Personal Development

Advanced Listening for Fundraisers

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There are four listening competencies tied to the field of Process Consulting. These competencies are not exclusive to Process Consulting, however. They are essential to any form of rich, two-way, and mutual communication. These listening competencies are, therefore, relevant for anyone who intends to have a meaningful career in raising financial support for a critical mission.

Working with people with the means and intention to be generous, and doing so over time, requires a trusting relationship. Trusting relationships are built on this rich, two-way, and mutual communication. [Read more…]

How to Take Advantage of Grant Writing Trends

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Nonprofits were sent into a tailspin during 2020 and 2021, thanks to the global pandemic and resulting quarantines. As a result, foundation and corporate funders also pivoted to meet overwhelming needs. 

The results have upended the traditions of persuading funders to give. What are the current grant writing trends in 2022? 

Let’s dig in. [Read more…]

Tugging at Some Threads: Looking for Inspiration In All the Different Places

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The following is an excerpt from Brock’s bestselling 2020 book From the Ground Up: Digital Fundraising for Nonprofits. Hyperlinks have been added for this post for further inspiration, as well as some additional resources from Brock at the end. This article does not contain any affiliate links.

At some point six or seven years ago, I lost interest in books about fundraising, blogs about fundraising, podcasts about fundraising, presentations about fundraising, and so on. I felt some guilt about this because I know how hard my peers work to gather and share their knowledge. I wondered if it was a sign that maybe I should step away and pursue a whole new profession. I still enjoyed my work though, especially interacting with donors. I also still felt like there was so much ground for our profession to cover. So, I struck a balance by staying focused at work, while outside the office I began tugging at some threads that had been within reach for decades but never pulled. [Read more…]

The Alchemy of Trust Based Philanthropy

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Transformational growth and change are topics du jour in the nonprofit sector, and especially in the context of a much-needed shift underway towards trust-based philanthropy: a movement to create authenticity in the relationships between donors and nonprofits, to address the power imbalances inherent in them, and to build mutual partnerships between them. Due in large part to the donors with extraordinary wealth who have signed The Giving Pledge, and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott in particular, it seems that so much of the focus is on the “holy grail” of giving in particular — the mega gift, the transformational gift, the gift that will deliver us and everyone we serve from the struggle.

[Read more…]

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…]

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…]

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…]

We Were Named a Top Fundraising Podcast by Welp Magazine

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We love co-hosting the Fundraising Leadership Podcast. In each episode, we are joined by nonprofit and other professionals for engaging and inspiring conversations related to leadership, management, fundraising, and personal development.

We are excited to be named as a Top Fundraising Podcast by Welp Magazine.

We are featured along with some of our podcasting friends like Jason Lewis of The Fundraising Talent and Fundraising Voices from Ruffalo Noel Levitz.

Welp Magazine is an online publication, that provides helpful resources for businesses, covering everything from software and accounting tips to office furniture recommendations.

If you haven’t already, please subscribe to our podcast at iTunes, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music Podcasts, or Spotify. 

Fundraising is a Team Sport: 4-Steps to Influence Change

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“Hey Kimberley, you had something to do with that didn’t you?”

Being called out in front of a couple of hundred other fundraisers by internationally renowned fundraising copywriter Tom Ahern took me off guard. Tom was talking about a now iconic direct mail pack.

This direct mail package was created in 2010 by the very talented duo Jen Love and John Lepp from Agents of Good, and has been shared hundreds of times at conferences and webinars around the world to demonstrate innovation, creativity, surprising and delighting donors and taking a massive leap of faith.

This mailing also appears in David Love’s new book Green Green, Reflections of 51 years of raising money for nature as an example of best practice.

So how did I respond to Tom’s question in front of so many colleagues? “Why yes Tom, I did. I was the Director of Fundraising that supported, approved and paid for the package.” Such a simple exchange. But there is so much more to it. [Read more…]