Fundraising Archives - Fundraising Leadership ™

Fundraisers Have Power, Too

June 23, 2021 by Anne Murphy

I’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

June 3, 2021 by Janice Cunning

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

May 25, 2021 by Kimberley MacKenzie

“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…]

Three Skills That Make You a Better Fundraiser

April 28, 2021 by MARGARET CANN

I am having a conversation with a potential donor. I love the initiative I’m fundraising for, but the meeting is not going particularly well. It isn’t my first meeting with this person, but I don’t feel like we are connecting today.

I spent a ridiculous number of hours prepping for this meeting because I thought this guy would have many questions for me. Nope. Nada. Zilch. And I had a whole script prepared, but it doesn’t feel right anymore.

I suspect I’m losing his attention. His cell phone is face down on the table; he hasn’t picked it up yet, but he’s looking at it longingly.

Even seasoned fundraisers can have rough meetings, meetings where our plans to present our worthy work go off the rails. Coaching skills can help during these difficult situations

Our culture seems to agree. Coaching skills are suitable for anyone who manages people, leads teams, and … is on the frontline of fundraising.

There are three skills that make you a better fundraiser (and leader). [Read more…]

Three Ways to Balance Fundraising and Leadership Priorities

March 17, 2021 by Sue McCoy

We all aspire to achieve great things, this means different things to different people. I was always focused on leading a team. I love working with people and more specifically, I love the energy that is created when I am engaged in inspirational conversations. It is for this reason that I consider myself lucky to be a professional fundraiser and even luckier to be leading a team of very accomplished and highly competent fundraisers. But there is a challenge that exists for many Directors in non profit organizations, and I believe it is an unspoken challenge. It is the trifecta effect, the challenge of leading your team, the challenge of working your own fundraising portfolio and the challenge of reporting up to the CEO. It is the curse I suppose of middle management, but it is not often discussed or addressed. It is for this reason that I’d like to share some of the strategies I have adapted over the years to deal with the aforementioned challenge. [Read more…]

Corporate Sponsorship: Get Clear and Think BIG

March 5, 2021 by Brent Barootes

Let’s get right to the point. Corporate sponsorship and corporate philanthropy are not the same. They are different—very different. And no matter which one you are considering, you probably aren’t thinking creatively enough.

Typically, philanthropy is done by individuals, not companies, but some companies still give for the sake of giving expecting nothing in return. Actually, that is philanthropy, especially when it comes to the Canada Revenue Agency or IRS. Philanthropy, or a donation by a company, is a gift made to a charity with no expectation of anything in return—no event passes or tickets to a gala, no logo inclusion, banners, tweets, or posts. Nothing! Zilch! Nada! Philanthropy comes from the heart; donations should be altruistic. [Read more…]

What is a “Personal Board of Directors?”

January 20, 2021 by Paul Nazareth

Mentorship is an evergreen topic of discussion amongst leaders and those aspiring to it. Wonderfully, today the conversation continues to evolve to intersect with issues of equity, diversity and inclusion to unpack the need for not just formal mentorship, but sponsorship and organizational responsibility.

But for many who work either alone, freelance or are just not supported at work, this is a journey they must take personal responsibility for. I firmly believe that in fact, any professional who cares deeply about their career needs to cultivate a healthy “third space” outside of work and home life. A professional sphere where they are not defined by their job title or technical capabilities. For me, a new world was opened up when I read the work of Dorie Clark pushing past the scarcity of the “gig economy” and instead proposing that we are all consultants now ( since hey, who will have a job for life any more ) and we hold “portfolio careers”.

On top of this concept that we will be flexible in our work space and the work we do over a lifetime of work, is the idea that we need to be creative and flexible in the mentors we seek too.

Yes, mentors with an “s”. You need multiple, and in fact when I’ve supported peers to really sit down and think about it, we all have several but it’s not a thought out process. And there’s nothing more dangerous than a mentor you didn’t choose. [Read more…]

Collecting Courage: Traversing the whiteness of the philanthropic sector as Black fundraisers

January 6, 2021 by Nneka Allen

“Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Collecting Courage: Joy, Pain, Freedom, Love is a perfect example of what happens when two parallel paths converge to create something special and of significance.

On one pathway was Our Right to Heal, an initiative featuring the voices of ten Black Canadian fundraisers sharing their journey towards healing from painful and traumatic experiences. In May 2020, a few days before George Floyd was killed at the hands of the Minneapolis police on May 25th, the stories were published by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (Global). His death served as a flashpoint triggering worldwide outrage about police brutality against Black people and igniting protests against anti-Black racism.

On a related and separate path, our group of Black Canadian fundraisers selected Cap in Hand: How Charities are Failing the People of Canada and the World by Gail Picco as our book club selection for December 2019. When Gail joined us for the discussion, she shared her idea about a compilation of writings featuring the voices of Black fundraisers. In March 2020, Gail became the Editor-in-Chief of The Charity Report, a new digital magazine, and at the same time launched Gail K. Picco Books, an imprint under Civil Sector Press.

These two convergent paths intersected, creating a perfect storm and genesis for the book. Conditions and timing were right to address historic exclusion and oppression in the charity sector. In June, discussions got underway and Collecting Courage: Joy, Pain, Freedom, Love was born. [Read more…]

4 Common Fundraising Challenges – And How To Overcome Them

November 24, 2020 by Emily Capelle

Raising enough money to support programs and services can be challenging, especially for small and medium sized organizations.

This year, Covid and the resulting inability to have fundraising “as usual” has brought even greater obstacles and anxieties to many organizations.

Are any of these four common fundraising challenges tripping up your organization?

[Read more…]

Building a Thoughtful Fundraising Career

August 5, 2020 by Jessica Wroblewski

The year was 2009. I had just graduated from university and knew I wanted to work in the non-profit sector but, like so many others, I had no clue how to go about building my career. None of my relatives were fundraisers or non-profit executives. No one I knew even worked for a charity. Without special connections or outside assistance, I had to learn how the non-profit sector operates the hard way. Despite this initial setback, I achieved several career milestones at a relatively early age and these accomplishments did not go unnoticed. As a result, aspiring and mid-career fundraisers often reach out to me to ask for career advice; to help them weigh the benefits of taking a specific course, program or designation; or to understand how they can emulate my success.

I think many are disappointed to hear me say that there is no silver bullet. I attribute my success as a fundraiser to being very thoughtful about my career development rather than to any one specific thing I’ve done. In order to be successful, you have to know where you want to go, develop a plan to get there, and then actually follow your plan. Of course, you will have to put in a lot of hard work along the way too. Success doesn’t happen overnight, and you will have to adjust course as challenges present themselves and new opportunities become available to you. Creating a plan doesn’t mean that your plan can’t change. But, if you don’t create a plan for your career, your career will happen to you instead of you taking charge and making it happen the way you want it to. [Read more…]

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