If you brought board members into fundraising hoping it would lighten your load, I want to save you some frustration right now: that's not what's going to happen. At least not at first.

This is the misconception that trips up more development directors than almost anything else. You recruit board members for fundraising. You give them a quick pep talk. You hand them a spreadsheet of names. And then you wait for your workload to shrink.

It doesn't shrink. If anything, it grows for a while.

​Here's the reframe that changes everything: your board isn't there to save you time. They're there to do something you cannot do by yourself, no matter how skilled or tireless you are. They can open doors into networks you'll never have access to on your own. Your job isn't to hand off tasks and disappear. Your job is to build the structure that makes it possible for them to succeed.

In 2015, I left a large public university to work at a small seminary. When they hired me, I was the entire fundraising staff, save for one part-time person who processed gifts.

Beyond my connection to the mission, I was drawn to the autonomy of the role. I'd get to build a fundraising program from the ground up. I knew I couldn't do that alone. But in those early days, there wasn't anyone to call on.

So I started building people, not just programs. I drew my president into the work and helped her become a genuinely wonderful fundraiser. I scouted and recommended new trustees, people I knew would be useful to the cause of revenue generation. As the board's composition shifted, our trustees started wanting to help.

That's when I built them tools: packets to help them fill tables they hosted at fundraising events, a toolkit for a thank you call campaign, specific language they could post on their own social media for Giving Tuesday. Piece by piece, I gave them what they needed to say yes and actually follow through.

Did any of this save me time? Absolutely not. I was hustling constantly to give my board what they needed to succeed. But their success was my success, and it was the organization's success too.

So many people at nonprofits believe that if the board would just "help," their workload would shrink. In the long run, it does make the job more sustainable. But at the start, the goal isn't staff relief. Your role is more of a trainer, a systems builder, and a change agent for your organization's philanthropy culture.

I built this out over years of trial and error. Now I teach it as a framework, because you shouldn't have to figure it out the hard way like I did.

The instinct at most organizations is to skip straight to the ask. Get the board a list of names, hand them a script, and hope for the best.

That's backward. Before a board member will ever raise their hand to solicit a gift, they need to believe something different about fundraising itself. This is the Reframe step in my REAL Framework: shifting how your board sees money, giving, and their own role in it.

​Most board members carry some version of the same beliefs: that asking is imposing on people, that money is a slightly uncomfortable topic separate from mission, that they personally aren't "the type" who's good at this. None of that is true, but no one ever told them so. Giving is an invitation into something the donor already cares about. Asking isn't taking. It's alignment.

Until you address that mindset directly, all the templates in the world won't get your board moving.

Once the mindset starts to shift, the next step is behavior, and this is where a lot of board fundraising plans fall apart. Organizations tend to imagine one path to engagement: the ask. But the donor cycle has room for a lot more than that, and your board is full of people who can contribute meaningfully without ever making a solicitation.

This is where I use the Fundraising Avatars with boards. Some trustees are Door Openers, wired for connections, always ready to say "you should meet this person." Some are the PR Guru, naturally talking up your mission in rooms you're not in. Some are Gratitude Champions who light up when they get to make a donor feel seen. Others are Strategic Brains who'd rather help you build the plan than pick up the phone, Loyal Givers who lead by example with their own gift, or Task Tackers who show up reliably to execute whatever needs doing.
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​None of these are lesser roles. They're different superpowers, and a board that understands its own mix of avatars stops forcing square pegs into the "everyone must solicit" hole.

Pair that with a Board Fundraising Menu; think of it as appetizers, entrées, and desserts. Appetizers are low lift: opening a door, making an introduction. Entrées stretch a board member a little further, like joining a donor visit. Desserts are the parts people genuinely enjoy, like making a thank you call. When board members can choose from a menu that matches their avatar, engagement stops feeling like an obligation and starts feeling like a fit.

Once your board is engaged and moving, some of them will be ready for the Ask itself. This step is where coordination really matters. You need to track who is talking to who, who is asking who, what for and for how much.

And again, you need to be providing templates, resources, and structure. Give them a formula for building a compelling ask, a chance to practice it out loud, and language for handling the moment a donor says no or goes quiet. ​Give them scripts for donor conversations. ​Give them a one-page explainer on your case for support. Run a “mock meeting” practice session so the words feel natural in their mouths before they ever say them to a donor.

The last piece of REAL is the one boards skip most often: Learn. Every outcome, a yes, a no, or silence, is data. A yes tells you what worked and deserves repeating. A no is information, not failure.

​Build a culture where there's no such thing as failure in fundraising, only learning. That's what keeps board members coming back to the work instead of quietly retreating after one hard conversation.

A board member with a menu of options, a clear job description, and real training still needs you in the loop. Fundraising is relational work, and relationships wobble. Donors get quiet. Conversations stall. Board members second-guess themselves.

Check in regularly. Ask what's working and what feels hard. Celebrate the small wins out loud, in front of the full board if you can. This isn't a "set it and forget it" initiative. It's a relationship you're building with your board, the same way they're building relationships with donors.

​If you are the fundraising lead, engage your Executive Director and your Board Chairperson in the follow-up process. If you have a Fundraising Committee, the chair and members of that can also be helpful here to check in with board members to see where they are with tasks and what kind of support they might be missing in order to deliver.

None of this saves you time in month one. It might not save you time in month three.

What it does is bigger: it activates a broad, warm network of potential donors that no single development director could ever reach alone, no matter how many hours they put in. Your board members know people you will never meet. Their invitation to give carries a kind of trust that an email from the development office simply cannot replicate.

And for your donors: contact from a volunteer leader taking time out of their busy day to say thank you goes such a long way. That makes an impression.

Reframe the mindset. Engage each person where their strengths are. Ask with clarity. Learn from every outcome. Do that consistently, and you won't just add donors to your database. You'll build a culture where fundraising is shared work, not a burden one exhausted person carries alone.

That's not a shortcut. It's the long game. And it's the only version of this work that actually lasts.

Cheers,

P.S. Want more content on board fundraising, mindset, and sustainable revenue growth? Subscribe to the blog and get new posts delivered straight to your inbox.

P.P.S. If you're a nonprofit CEO or development lead who's tired of carrying the fundraising weight alone, a free discovery call is for you. Let’s chat.

If you liked this…

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• Asking Is Only 5%: Why Your Board Is Afraid of the Wrong Thing

If you're a nonprofit leader, there's a good chance you're holding your breath right now.

Maybe you're waiting to hear if that grant gets renewed. Maybe you're hoping your biggest donor doesn't decide to move on. Maybe you've done the math and realized that one person or one source is carrying way too much of your annual budget.

That's not a funding strategy. That's a gamble.

I've seen what happens when organizations build their entire revenue picture around a single mega donor who gives 30 or 40 percent of the annual budget. When that person walks away, whether because of a falling out, a change in priorities, or simply passing away, the organization is left with a hole that's nearly impossible to fill overnight.

The answer is revenue diversification. Not just across funding types, but within your individual giving portfolio, too.

​That's what the THRIVE model is all about.

THRIVE is a framework I developed to help small and mid-size nonprofits build a more balanced, more resilient individual giving program. Each letter stands for a different type of revenue stream:

T = Transformational Gifts (Major Donors)
H = Hope-Based Giving (Planned Legacy Gifts)
R = Retained Donors (Retention)
I = Intake of New Donors (Acquisition and Reacquisition)
V = Vested Commitments (Multi-Year Pledges)
E = Evergreen Giving (Recurring Monthly Giving Program)

You don't have to build all six at once. The goal is to understand what each piece does, where you have gaps, and how to start filling them in a way that's manageable for your team.

​Let's walk through each one.

These are your major gifts. And before you scroll past this section thinking "we're too small for major gifts," let me stop you.

Major is relative. At some institutions, a major gift starts at $100,000. At a small community nonprofit, it might be $1,000. The point isn't the dollar amount. The point is that you have donors capable of giving significantly above the average annual gift, and the goal is that you are actively cultivating relationships with them.

Major gifts don't appear out of nowhere. They grow from long-term relationship, and more often than not, the prospect is already in your database. They're giving you $25 or $50 a year. They're testing the waters. They want to see how you communicate, how you manage your programs, whether you're worth a bigger investment.

Here's a number that surprises people every time I share it: in higher education donors can give for 11-40 years before graduating to a major gift (pun intended). Eleven years. That means the transformational donor of your future is probably someone who made their first small gift to you a decade ago. (But don’t despair if you are a newer nonprofit, 21% of major gift donors had only been giving for 3 years before making their larger commitment.) (Giacomini et al. pg. 7)

The good news is that your future major donors are already in your database!

Once you've identified someone and you're in active, one-on-one relationship with them, you're looking at 18 to 24 months to close that major gift. (Giacomini et al. pg. 7)

That's what I call platonic dating. You're having coffee, hopping on Zoom, making phone calls. You're sharing where your organization is right now, where you're headed, and what it will take to get there. You're not asking at every turn. You're deepening the relationship until the ask is a natural next step, not a cold pitch.

​If you're an executive director, you should be having at least two to three of these conversations every week. Not because every person will become a major donor. Because you don't know who will become a major donors until you show up.

This is my term for legacy and planned giving, and I call it hope-based giving because that's exactly what it is. When a donor includes your organization in their estate plans, they are expressing hope in your long-term impact. They want to make sure you're still doing this work long after they're gone.

Here's what most small nonprofits get wrong about planned giving: they think it's for wealthy donors.

It's not.

Planned gifts are made from assets, not income. That loyal annual fund donor who has given you $100 every year for 15 years? She might not be able to give you much more than that right now. But she could leave you $25,000 in her will. Planned gifts are often the single largest gift a donor ever makes to an organization, and they frequently come from the most committed, longest-tenured people in your database, not necessarily the highest annual givers. In fact, the average planned gift is over 200 times larger than that same donor’s annual gift amount. (“Planned Giving Myths”)

​Now, I know that "planned giving" as a category can feel enormous and intimidating. There are trusts, charitable annuities, retirement account designations, life insurance policies, even real estate. It's a lot.
But you don't need to know everything about planned giving to get started. You just need to know two vehicles: bequests and beneficiary designations.

​Bequests: A donor works with their attorney to add language to their will directing a portion of their estate to your organization. Simple to set up. Simple to change.

Beneficiary designations: Even simpler. The donor contacts the holder of their retirement account or life insurance policy, fills out a form, and names your organization as a beneficiary for a set percentage. Then they let you know.

That's it. That's your starting point.

Start talking about these options publicly. Send a promotional email. Post about it. National Make a Will Month is in August, and National Estate Planning Awareness Week falls in October every year. Use those hooks. They give you a natural reason to start the conversation with your donor base without it feeling out of nowhere.

And here's the urgency behind all of this: we are in the early stages of the largest wealth transfer in history. Baby boomers hold the majority of private wealth in the United States. As that generation ages, that wealth will move. Nonprofits that are in that conversation now will benefit. Organizations that sit on the sidelines will not.

You can't win it if you ain't in it. 😊

Six out of ten donors will not give to your nonprofit again next year. (“Retention Time Series”)

​That's the industry average. Which means if you want to just stay even, you have to replace more than half your donor base every single year. That's exhausting, expensive, and completely avoidable with better systems.

Here's something that often gets missed in the retention conversation: retention doesn't start after the gift. It starts before it.

Where you get your donors matters enormously. If you're pulling in most of your new donors from a golf tournament or a 5K, you've already set yourself up for a low retention rate. Those folks came for the event. They may not have a deep emotional connection to your mission. They're not going to renew because they don't feel tied to the work you're doing.

Compare that to a donor who came to you through a volunteer orientation, a personal introduction, or a mission-aligned community event. That person came in connected. They're going to be far more likely to renew.

Stewardship absolutely matters, too. Does a first-time donor get a phone call from a board member? Do they receive a handwritten note? Do they hear what happened with their gift before they get the next ask? These are structures you must build intentionally, because if you leave them to chance, they don't happen.

Build the systems. Fix the leaky bucket. Getting above a 50 to 60 percent donor retention rate is one of the most powerful things you can do for your organization's long-term stability.

Even if your retention rate is excellent, you will still lose donors every year. That's just the reality. People move, circumstances change, life happens.

That means donor acquisition isn't optional. It's an annual requirement.

The goal isn't just to bring in new donors. It's to bring in the right new donors. People who are genuinely connected to your mission and who are likely to come back year after year. That's what builds a strong base.

Ask yourself: where are we finding new donors right now? And are those sources giving us people who renew?

If the honest answer is no, that's where to start. What would it look like to attract mission-connected donors instead of event-driven ones? Who are the people already orbiting your organization through volunteer work, advocacy, or community involvement who haven't made a gift yet?

​Start there.

This is multi-year pledges, and I am consistently surprised by how underutilized this is outside of higher education.

In higher education, multi-year pledges are standard practice. A donor says they'll give $5,000 a year for three years. Done. The organization projects that revenue, they plan around it, and they don't have to go re-cultivate and re-ask that same donor every year.

Smaller nonprofits rarely do this, and they're leaving a lot on the table.

Here's what a vested commitment does for you: it removes you from the cycle of making the case over and over again to the same donors. Instead of crafting a new proposal every year, you send a simple reminder. "Your pledge payment for this year is coming up. Thank you for your continued commitment." That's it.

The most common objection I hear is: “What if they don't follow through?"

The data answers this. The industry average fulfillment rate for multi-year pledges is 93%. That's not a typo. Industry averages show that between 80-90% of the dollars pledged do come in. (Ugrenovic)

The thing you do need to have in place is a follow-up system. Someone in your organization needs to be pulling upcoming pledges from the database every month and sending reminders. That's the whole system. Once you have it, you have one of the most reliable revenue streams available to you.

​And there's a bonus: many major donors actually prefer to structure their commitment over multiple years. It fits their financial planning better. Asking someone for a three-year pledge instead of a one-time gift can make the yes easier to get, not harder.

This is your monthly giving program, and "evergreen" is exactly right. Once you build it, it keeps going with minimal maintenance.

For donors, monthly giving is easy. They set it up, the gift processes automatically, and they don't have to think about it again. A donor who might give $50 once a year can give $10 a month and end up giving $120 annually. Most monthly donors give more over the course of a year than they would with a single annual gift.

For your organization, a monthly giving program is steady, predictable revenue. Once you've launched it and grown it to a meaningful size, the ongoing maintenance is relatively light:
​

• Update expired or declined credit cards when they come up
• Periodically ask long-tenured monthly donors to upgrade their amount
• Keep talking about the program in your emails and on social media so new donors know it exists
• Do a push once a year to grow the program
• Occasionally do something meaningful to recognize and celebrate your monthly giving community

That's the maintenance plan. It's manageable. And the payoff, predictable cash flow every single month, is worth the upfront work of launching.

You don't have to build all six revenue streams at once. Especially if you're a small shop with limited bandwidth.

Here's how I'd sequence it:

Start with R and I together: retention and intake. Get clear on your renewal rate and where you're sourcing donors. That foundation matters for everything else.

Add E: build or strengthen your monthly giving program. Even a small monthly giving community creates reliable, recurring revenue and raises your average annual gift per donor.

Build V and T together: as you start identifying major donor prospects, you'll find that multi-year pledges and major gifts often go hand-in-hand. Many significant donors want to spread their commitment over three to five years.

Add H as you go: don't wait too long on planned giving. Baby boomers are making these decisions right now. You want to be in the conversation.

The goal of the THRIVE model isn't complexity for its own sake. It's sustainability. It's building a revenue picture where no single source is carrying too much weight, where you know what's coming in, and where you're in genuine relationship with the people who make your mission possible.

That's what good fundraising looks like. Not frantic. Not transactional. Relational, intentional, and built to last.

If you are reading this and wishing you had a guide to help you begin to implement some of these revenue streams, let’s talk. Visit realdealfundraising.com/bookacall to find some time on my calendar.

Cheers,

P.S. Want more content on board fundraising, mindset, and sustainable revenue growth? Subscribe to the blog and get new posts delivered straight to your inbox.

P.P.S. If you're a nonprofit CEO or development lead who's tired of carrying the fundraising weight alone, a free discovery call is for you. Let’s chat.

If you liked this…

• The REAL Framework for Board Fundraising Transformation
• Know. Like. Trust. Give. Advocate. The Full Journey Your Board Needs to Understand
• Now. Next. Needed: The Simple Way for Nonprofit Leaders to Tell Their Story in a Way that Attracts Funding
• Asking Is Only 5%: Why Your Board Is Afraid of the Wrong Thing
• Listening Is a Skill: How Silence Wins Big Gifts

Giacomini, Cara, et al. CASE Study of Principal Gifts to U.S. Colleges & Universities. Council for Advancement and Support of Education, June 2022, https://www.case.org/system/files/media/file/CASEStudyofPrincipalGifts_finalrevised6.21.22_2.pdf.

“Planned Giving Myths, Facts, Stats, Ruminations.” PlannedGiving.com, 2026, https://www.plannedgiving.com/resources/planned-giving-facts/.

“Retention Time Series – Quarterly FEP Report.” FEP Reports, Generosity AI Working Group, https://publications.fepreports.org/retention-time-series/.

​Ugrenovic, Aleksandra. “What Is Pledge Fulfillment Percentage in Fundraising? How to Calculate and Use PFP?” RallyUp, 13 May 2025, https://rallyup.com/blog/pledge-fulfillment-percentage/.

Pop Quiz:

A beloved faculty member retires, and your department wants to honor them with a named scholarship.

Should you:
a) Hit up that top donor at the tailgate
b) Meet with Advancement and make a plan
c) Launch a GoFundMe and post it to the department's social media

If you picked B, congratulations – you’ve passed. If you're scratching your head, you're not alone. (And yes, every one of those quiz options I have witnessed personally.)

Far too often, faculty are either sprinting ahead trying to do it all themselves or sitting it out because the maze of advancement feels too intimidating. Neither of these extreme approaches do justice to your students, your honorees, or your own standing as a leader on campus.

Here’s the thing: most faculty don’t go into academia thinking they’ll ever be responsible for raising money. Then one day, they step into a department chair role and suddenly, fundraising is on the job description – but no one handed them a manual. It’s a lot to take on, especially when you’re already juggling budgets, personnel, and curriculum.

Though I’m an Advancement professional, I’ve worked directly with faculty on fundraising since the 20th century – and I’ve seen plenty of ways fundraising efforts can go sideways. These are the things that work to make you the Advancement team’s favorite faculty collaborator.

When you know who to call and how to work together, you not only raise more money, you build momentum, respect, and resources. Let’s talk about how to work effectively across campus.

Most of the folks in Development departments actually aren’t major gift officers who play golf all day. In reality, it’s the researchers, database managers, gift processors, accountants, and annual giving folks who are the real MVPs and can be your best resource as a department chair.

Development offices thrive when faculty help connect academic work to donor dreams. They’re looking for faculty who can paint a clear picture of how gifts support teaching, research, and student success.

Want to get off on the right foot? Here are three things you can do:

1. Meet with the donor research officer and ask for a list of the top 10 donors (or potential donors) to your area. Write all 10 a nice note with an update on the department.
2. Meet with the annual giving director about ways you can partner. Come prepared with a list of points of pride about your department, faculty, students, and research.
3. Anytime you send communication or meet with an alum or donor, find out how to relay that back to be added to the database. Most shops have a web form or a dedicated email address for this purpose.

Your former students aren’t just Facebook friends. They're potential mentors, donors, and champions for your department. The Alumni Association wants your help making those connections stick.
​
Want to build better relationships with alumni staff and support your grads? Here are three ways to start:

1. Be a database darling! If you find out that someone has a new email or got divorced and they are a graduate, relay that information to be updated in the alumni database. There's always a disconnect if the faculty member is emailing them but then they don't get an email inviting them to homecoming from the institution.
2. If you find out about an alum receiving a big honor or award, relay that to the editor of the alumni magazine. The alum will feel honored and the alumni staff will love you.
3. Meet with the staffer planning homecoming and ask how your department can help get more of your grads there. Perhaps offer to host a tent for the tailgate.

Yes, it can get political. Departments can get territorial. Your college or university will have its own fundraising priorities which may not match yours. Donors get pulled in ten directions – and when everyone goes rogue with fundraising, everybody loses.

Instead of guarding your turf, try building bridges. Focus on what the donor wants and how multiple units might work together. A shared proposal doesn’t dilute your message – it strengthens it. It shows you’re working as a team, which donors love.

Collaboration isn’t just a buzzword. It’s a strategy. And when faculty, development, and alumni relations team up, the results are bigger, better, and more sustainable. Truly, everyone working together advances the institution.
​
So, the next time someone announces their intention to retire and you want to honor them with a scholarship, don’t wing it or walk away. Partner up. Think long-term. Be the faculty leader who understands how things get done – and gets them done with heart and strategy.

If this post hit home, I’ve got something that’ll really help: a free 35-minute webinar called Building Fundraising Confidence for Department Chairs. It’s practical, empowering, and designed to help you stop second-guessing and start asking with clarity.

​You’ll get access immediately—and it’ll subscribe you to my newsletter where I share more strategies, stories, and insights for academic leaders who are learning how to fundraise without losing their minds.

Cheers!

​PS - I hope you’ll continue the conversation by subscribing to Real Deal Fundraising. When you subscribe, you’ll get my e-newsletter, which includes the best articles on fundraising, productivity, and cool stuff every week. The whole thing is curated awesomeness as well as freebies like webinars, instructional videos, and whatever else I can put together to be helpful to you!

If you liked this…

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• Culture of Philanthropy Check Up

I couldn’t stop crying. A holiday party hosted by a colleague was starting in about an hour. I’d love to say that I hadn’t felt like this before, but I had. But, this time, it wasn’t postpartum depression or difficulty dealing with isolation during COVID. This time, I knew I had careened directly into a wall called burnout.
​
My introvert husband volunteered to go alone in my stead. I was so grateful. He would say I had a headache, which after all the tears was true. I retreated to my bed. I was so embarrassed that I could not pull myself together, especially since my expertise was relationships.  

I had sold a house, bought a house in a new town, began going into an actual office again after being a remote employee for 8 years, hired an entire team, and was juggling what seemed like 18,000 competing demands of fundraising for an institution that needed much more than they had in the donor pipeline. I had no friends outside of work in my new town and I had high blood pressure (literally). Even after many months, my house still looked like a storage unit and we lived in the rabbit trails between stacks of boxes that I had neither the time nor energy to unpack.

At the time, did I think that something needed to change about my new life? No, I blamed myself for not adjusting well, for not keeping up, for what I perceived as the gap between my public performance and my real life.

I’m now back to my previous remote fundraising position, mixing travel with Zoom meetings. And my energy and zeal for work has made a dramatic comeback. I have a broader network locally than I did before, with time to take walks with a friend most mornings, teach poetry and dance, write this blog and make TikTok videos, and go to yoga classes. My house is a comfortable place to be most days. And I’m raising more money than ever!
​
Burnout is more than a buzzword. It is a genuine crisis, not just for the individuals experiencing it, but for the organizations that depend on their energy, creativity, and dedication. And when burnout leads to turnover, it’s more than just a human resource issue; it’s a threat to your nonprofit's ability to build lasting relationships with donors and, ultimately, to its financial sustainability.

Burnout is that creeping exhaustion that makes you dread the next meeting, the next phone call, the next donor visit. According to a report by the Center for Effective Philanthropy, 69% of nonprofit leaders are worried about burnout among their staff. And why wouldn’t they be? Nonprofit work environments are often high-stress, resource-strapped, and emotionally taxing – conditions ripe for burnout.
​
What’s alarming is that this isn’t just a leadership problem. Across the board, from entry-level staff to executive directors, burnout is taking its toll. A survey by Nonprofit Hive found that 77% of respondents reported feeling completely burned out, with 20% admitting they were "crispy" – right on the edge of burnout. This isn’t just a bad day at the office; it’s a systemic issue that’s been brewing for years.

Burnout doesn’t just lead to unhappy employees; it leads to turnover. And in fundraising, turnover is more than just a logistical headache – it’s a financial disaster waiting to happen. When your fundraiser leaves, they don’t just take their expertise with them; their leaving disrupts and derails the relationships they’ve spent months or even years cultivating.

Consider this: A Council for the Advancement and Support of Education study on principal gifts at colleges and universities found that more than half of $1 million+ donors had relationships with the institution lasting between 11 and 40 years. On average, it takes nearly 20 months from the initial conversation to the moment a principal gift is booked. Now, imagine the damage that occurs when a key fundraiser – who’s only been around for 16-18 months – leaves before they can seal the deal. The impact on your bottom line is clear, but the real loss is the relationship that never had the chance to fully develop.
​
A 2022 analysis by Ruffalo Noel Levitz of over 3,000 major givers further underscores this point. Before making their first $25,000 gift, donors typically spent an average of 11.9 years as supporters, made 13.8 gifts, and had been giving for over 7 years. These numbers tell us one thing: major gifts and especially principal gifts don’t happen overnight. They’re the result of long-term relationships built on trust, mutual respect, and consistency.

In far too many organizations, the response to turnover is to double down on goals, increase oversight, lean on metrics, and push employees even harder. In my opinion, this is the death knell of the 20th-century leadership model – a model built on command and control, where employees are expected to follow orders and meet targets, no matter the cost to their well-being.
​
But here’s the thing: That approach doesn’t work anymore. In fact, it’s going to bite these organizations hard. High turnover rates disrupt the donor pipeline, making it nearly impossible to cultivate the kind of long-term relationships necessary for securing major and principal gifts. When fundraisers are constantly churning through roles, your organization is left in a perpetual state of starting over – losing momentum, missing opportunities, and ultimately, falling short of its mission.

It’s time for a change. The 21st-century workplace must be built on a foundation of trust, flexibility, and autonomy. This isn’t just the humane thing to do; it’s the smart thing to do for the health and viability of your fundraising efforts. Treat your fundraisers like the professionals they are. Give them the autonomy to manage their work, the flexibility to find balance, and the trust to build relationships with donors in a way that’s authentic and sustainable.
​
When you create a workplace that supports people as people, you don’t just prevent burnout; you enhance your organization’s ability to thrive. Long-term relationships with donors are the bedrock of sustainable fundraising. By fostering a supportive, empowering work environment, you’re investing in those relationships – and in the future of your nonprofit.

So, how do we move forward? Here are a few strategies to consider:

1. Prioritize Work-Life Balance: Encourage self-care and provide resources to support mental health. Make sure your team feels empowered to take time off when they need it.
2. Set Realistic Goals: Be mindful of the pressure you’re placing on your fundraisers. Set goals that are challenging but achievable, and recognize when they’ve been met.
3. Invest in Professional Development: Support your fundraisers in their career growth. Offer training, mentorship, and opportunities for advancement within your organization.
4. Foster a Culture of Trust: Move away from micromanagement. Trust your team to do their jobs well, and give them the autonomy to make decisions.
5. Build Community: Create opportunities for your team to connect with each other and with leadership. This could be through regular check-ins, team-building activities, or open forums for discussion.

Burnout and high turnover aren’t just HR issues – they’re existential threats to the future of your nonprofit. But you aren’t powerless. By adopting a leadership model that prioritizes trust, flexibility, and autonomy, you can create a work environment where fundraisers thrive, long-term donor relationships are nurtured, and your organization’s financial sustainability is secured.

It’s time to leave behind the outdated command-and-control leadership model and embrace a new approach that recognizes the value of your people and the critical role they play in your mission. Let’s build a future where nonprofits aren’t just surviving but thriving – where fundraisers are supported, donors are engaged, and our communities are better off because of it.

QUESTIONS FOR YOU? Have you experienced burnout? Does your organization have high turnover? If so, why do you think that is? What else do you think can be done to keep good people in the fundraising and nonprofit sector (in a healthy way)? Let me know in the comments! 
​
[Updated for 2025]
 
Cheers!​

P.S. If you’re feeling the weight of constant fundraising pressure and the creeping burnout that comes with it, you’re not alone—and you don’t have to muscle through it alone either. Join me for Building Fundraising Confidence, a free live webinar on 5/28. It's designed to help you rediscover your voice, sharpen your message, and build a plan that actually works. It’s practical, supportive, and CFRE approved. Register now here!

PPS - I hope you’ll continue the conversation by subscribing to Real Deal Fundraising. When you subscribe, you’ll get my monthly newsletter email, which includes the best articles on fundraising, productivity and cool stuff every week. The whole thing is curated awesomeness as well as freebies like webinars, instructional videos, and whatever else I can put together to be helpful to you!

If you liked this post, you may also like these:

• How to Climb Out of Burnout
• Impostor Syndrome
• Building your Self Care Practice
• Do You Work for a 21st Century Institution?
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I guess you could consider this a motivational poster of sorts, but I think it was actually a very early meme. These two sentences have become my fundraising mantra. Something I repeat to keep myself focused and to cope when things get rough.

Because I’m both a nerd and a yogi, I looked up “mantra” in the Oxford English Dictionary. The term “mantra” comes from Sanskrit and the root words mean basically: "thought support" or device to support thought and action. This is exactly what this simple sign has been for me throughout my career. Even the repetitive rhythm of it helps in its function as thought support.

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. Raising money is the main thing.

Let me tell you the story of this mantra:

To give credit where it is due, the original sign was created for me by Mark Nelson, who was the Treasurer for the Libertarian National Committee (the Libertarian Party) in 2004-2005. So, he was a board officer for the organization I was working for at the time.

I was the only full-time fundraiser for the national organization and I was only 23 years old.

Their theory was to hire smart young people who would be “cheaper” salary-wise for the DC area. The exchange was that I would get a ton of valuable training and experience and they would get energetic labor.

However, I was overwhelmed and I think Mark sensed it. I was managing a conversion from an antiquated custom donor database to Raiser’s Edge. I was producing a monthly newsletter for our recurring donors. I was helping to plan the national convention and scouting locations for the next convention. I was recruiting and training paid callers to renew memberships via phone and managing our intern program. With the help of a consultant, I was managing monthly direct mail campaigns and planning fundraising events. Then, because the LP was a political organization, staff frequently got pulled into controversies and political discussions. 

I’m tired and anxious just typing about everything I was called to do.

As treasurer of course, Mark had a keen interest in keeping me motivated. On a trip to our DC office, he walked in and taped the sign to the wall above my computer monitor and explained what it meant.

The “main thing” meme helped me to prioritize my work and keep my head on straight. It also reminded me that the officers of the organization supported me in my main role.

My job as a fundraiser is revenue generation. Everything else must fade in comparison.

When I left the LP, I took this simple sheet of copy paper with me and posted it in my new office at the University of South Carolina. This concept continued to keep me focused as I was hiring 110 student callers per semester to raise $1.47 million via phone annually.

When I took a job as behind-the-scenes project manager with RuffaloCODY (now Ruffalo Noel Levitz), I would see the sign and feel sad. I knew then that I missed frontline fundraising. I missed chasing down a dollar goal. It helped me navigate my career back to raising money.

At some point in changing offices, the original paper got ragged and I disposed of it. But, when I was at Southern Miss and we tripled our annual fund income in one year, I recreated the poster for some of our gift processors who were overwhelmed and wanted a reminder of how their work connected to the big picture. It became a bit of an office-wide mantra.

Now that I’m back at a small shop, I think of this mantra often. I try hard to “stay in my lane” and keep the focus on fundraising. There is much to do, the need is great, and it is easy to feel like you are never doing quite enough.

But, the main thing . . . is to keep . . . the main thing . . . the main thing.

And, raising money . . . is the main thing.

At any organization, you will be asked to do many mundane things (I collectively call them TPS reports). These include: expense reports, submission forms, demographic changes in database, meetings, etc. Do these things, but strive to automate those tasks as much as you can so that they don’t distract you from the main thing: raising money.

At some organizations, especially those that are not organizationally mature, fundraisers will get pulled into political discussions and controversies. Continue to come back to mission and how the main thing (fundraising) supports that mission. When people around you go low, you go high. Keeping focused on raising money is the high road.

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. Raising money is the main thing.

What’s your fundraising mantra? How do you keep yourself focused?

Comments and questions are, as always, welcomed and encouraged!

Cheers,

Jessica Cloud

PS – If you liked this post, you might also like these:

• In praise of being deep in the job chaos
• Where’s the joy in your fundraising plan?
• Fundraising is an amazing career choice
• Applying to be a CFRE
• The CFRE Exam

 
 PPS - If you found this article helpful, please comment and let me know. Also subscribe to Real Deal Fundraising so you don't miss a post! You'll get my guide to Call Center Games for Free!​​

Building and maintaining a culture of philanthropy is hard work. It is deep work that takes years to build and moments to destroy. But having a healthy culture of philanthropy makes work more fun and makes fundraising easier. It’s worth having a periodic check-up to assess how your institution is doing.

Answer these questions for your institution:

Board Support

• Does your board of directors (or board of trustees) support the organization as current year donors at 100% participation?
• Board support is a sign of stakeholder investment. It also shows that your closest advocates are current with their support. The level of the support doesn't matter so much as the consistency and recency of that support. PS - It's easier to ask for others to give if you are a current donor.

Staff Support

• Does your fundraising staff support the organization as current year donors at 100% participation?
• Does at least 50% of your organization’s overall staff (and faculty) support the organization as current year donors?
• Again, staff support is a measurement of stakeholder investment. Does your staff (especially your fundraising staff, believe in the mission enough to back it with their personal funds? The level doesn't mean as much as the participation.

Alumni support (or Grateful Patient support)

• This category assesses whether those served by your organization’s mission give back to the organization later. This is a sign of institutional effectiveness.
• What is your alumni (or similar) participation rate? You’ll know whether this is good for your organization or not. The level at which this metric is outstanding varies widely from institution to institution.

Fun Factor

• Does your organization frequently have concrete signs that fundraising is seen as an enjoyable community endeavor? (For example, an annual gala, a stewardship picnic, a “Dancing with the Deans” competition, etc.)
• List what you currently do to put the “fun” in fundraising.
• Write down three new ideas to improve your fun factor.

Communications

• How often do your constituents hear from the organization without a fundraising pitch?
• Do these communications include stories of impact?
• Are you communicating in different media? Email, print, video, etc?

Stewardship and Donor Relations

• Do you have meaningful giving societies?
• Do you have a person designated to assist donors with any “customer service” type issues? 
• How is your data management and data integrity? Nothing kills a philanthropic feeling like your name being wrong on an invitation.
• Stewardship is not just the purview of the staff member with "donor relations" in his or her title. It is an office-wide perspective of service and connection. From your front desk associates to student workers/interns to your accountants on staff to gift officers and especially advancement services and gift processing staff, improving donor relations should be everyone's primary objective.

Other questions to think about:

• Does your organization show the impact of giving clearly and broadly?
• For major donors, do you create unique reports and experiences that connect for them their gift to the impact in the world?
• Do you see expressions of gratitude at all levels of the organization? Where could your organization do better?
• Are the needs of the institution are clearly expressed for donors of all levels using different media?
• Does the institution set expectations for giving through specific asks, giving society thresholds and endowment minimums?
• Are fundraising goals embraced by both fundraising staff and program staff/faculty?

How did you feel about the assessment? Where are you doing well? Where should you improve? 

As always, comments and questions are welcome and encouraged!

Cheers,

Jessica

PS - If you liked this post, you might also like these: 

• Goals versus projections
• What should a strategic plan contain?
• Planning for the Unexpected
• Conducting a Benchmarking Study
• My Exhaustive Event Planning Checklist

PPS - If you found this article helpful, please comment and let me know. Also subscribe to Real Deal Fundraising so you don't miss a post! You'll get my  guide to Call Center Games for Free!​​

Tis the Season for Strategic Planning! Now is the time of year that many higher education fundraisers are doing two things:

1. Working it hard to reach our fiscal year end goals and,
2. Planning how we might do things better next year.

I totally understand you are busy. Trust me. Between travel, work, and personal responsibilities, I’m stretched too.

But, I think you should consider one more project: a benchmarking study. It's the missing piece of your strategic planning process.

A benchmarking study is a survey of peer organizations that will give you insightful information about what your program should be doing. I assure you that this process doesn’t take long. The data you obtain will be so useful to you, I guarantee you that you will not regret investing the time.

A benchmarking study can help you:
​

• Check your fundraising results versus peer institutions.
  • Are they raising more or less than you? Why?
• Assess your portfolio of programs and provide supporting evidence to start new programs or drop unproductive ones.
  • For instance, say your biggest rival school does a day-of-giving and you don't. They raise more money than you overall and have a higher alumni participation rate. This is a persuasive reason for you to try a day-of-giving. Likewise, if your leadership believes the reunion giving is the most important thing in the world, but none of your peers do this and it always takes a ton of time for not much revenue, recommend dropping it.
• Give you justification to lobby for more budgetary resources.
  • If another school has 25 calling stations and calls year round successfully, and your phonathon only has 15 calling stations and doesn’t call in the summer, perhaps you need to add more stations or calling hours.
• Inspire you with ideas but also provide important return-on-investment data of those ideas.
  • With the questions I will recommend you ask, you’ll get inspired but avoid the temptation to implement ideas that sound great but don’t pull real results.
• Open a window onto what’s possible, as well as confirming where you are doing well.

How do I get started? I have no time for this…

This doesn’t have to take a long time. If you employ an intern or student worker, have them help you with the process. The first phase of identifying your peer institutions is the hardest part. Just hang with me and you'll find you can fit this in and that the long term benefits (to your institution and your own career) are worth it.

Here’s the 5 phase process for doing a benchmarking study:

1. Research
2. Create survey
3. Solicit participation
4. Analysis
5. Follow-up

Phase 1: Research

List your “peer institutions”. You know at least some of them. They might be your in-state rivals or other nearby institutions of similar size, age and student population. Your peer institutions are the ones that your boss always asks about in meetings: “What is XYZ College doing in this area?”

Note: There is a big difference between a peer institution and an aspirant institution.

An aspirant institutions is one that your institution wants to be like but isn’t. They are a significant level-up from you. They may have 50-100 years more institutional history, a much larger endowment, a larger student body or other significant indicators that make them just a bit beyond your organization.

Sometimes leadership or volunteers believe a rival institution is a peer institution when it is actually a aspirant institution. When I was at Southern Miss, we were frequently compared with Mississippi State and Ole Miss, but Southern Miss is actually much more like Eastern Carolina University or the University of Memphis than either of those in-state rivals.

It’s a bit dangerous to confuse an aspirant institution with a peer institution. You would be comparing apples to papayas. However, you can include them in your study because they are a great source of inspiration and ideas. Just mark them clearly in your data as aspirant and understand that they will likely have bigger budgets and bigger results.

If you only can come up with a few institutions, do some internet searches to find similar organizations. You might google, “liberal arts colleges more than 100 years old” or “southern universities with endowments of less than $100 Million”. I recommend you have a list of 10-12 peer institutions and perhaps 3-5 aspirant institutions because not all the institutions will respond.

Once you have a short list of potential peer and aspirant institutions, you (or your intern) should do a bit of research. You need to identity the equivalent program director at those places. For example, if your study is for annual giving, you will want to find the Director of Annual Giving at each place on your list. Record this staffer’s name, title, phone and email address in a spreadsheet.

Phase 2: Create survey

I recommend you ask a mixture of questions in these categories:

• Institutional questions
  • Student body, Endowment size, type of institution, year founded, etc. These questions provide confirmation of their peer status to your institution and establish where you are alike and different.
• Overall Fundraising Results Questions
  • Dollars, donors, alumni participation, etc.
• Resource Questions
  • Resources at the disposal of their program, including monetary resources, space, software, equipment and staff.
• Program Questions
  • Major gifts, lead annual fund, giving societies, events, direct mail, digital promotions, student philanthropy, phonathon, etc.

You can follow this process to design your survey for any area of development but here is what I’ve used before for annual giving.

Annual Fund Questionnaire

1. Institution:
2. Alumni Base:
3. Overall Annual Fund statistics:
   1. Overall Dollars Raised in most recently completed fiscal year:
   2. Overall number of donors (or pledges):
   3. Overall participation rate:
4. Other constituencies that you solicit: (Please indicate the total amount of dollars and number of donors that each program generates towards your totals above.)
   1. Parents?
   2. Students?
   3. Friends?
   4. Faculty/Staff/Retirees?
   5. Other?
5. Methods Utilized:  Please describe how you use this, the scope, etc. (Please indicate the total amount of dollars and number of donors that each program generates towards your totals above.)
   1. Phone
   2. Direct Mail
   3. E-solicitations
   4. Other e-mails (for reminders, stewardship, etc.)
   5. Social Media
   6. Personal Visits (High End Annual)
   7. Events
   8. Other Methods
6. Do you recognize or have special solicitation plans for any of the following groups: (Please indicate the total amount of dollars and number of donors that each program generates towards your totals above.)
   1. Young Alumni
   2. High Level Annual Societies
   3. Consecutive Year donors
   4. 1st time donors
   5. Reunion giving
7. Can you describe your research/data integrity plan?
8. Can you broadly describe how you segment your data for phone and direct mail?
9. Can you describe your fulfillment and stewardship cycles?
10. Do you undertake any student philanthropy education?

Phase 3: Solicit participation

Take your own survey for your institution putting in your data and make sure each question is clear and makes sense. When you do this, time yourself, so you have an accurate range of how long this will take.

Construct an email to the staffers you recorded contact info for in Phase 1. Let them know that you would love for them to participate and the survey will only take XX minutes. (I would recommend that it take no longer than 15 minutes.)

Then, and this is important, tell them that you will share the results of the survey with them to benefit their program as a thank you for their participation. Provide a deadline and let them know that you’ll remind them closer to the deadline. Keep your window not longer than 2 weeks out, otherwise there is no urgency to participate.

Remind them 4-5 days later if they haven’t participated and again closer to the deadline. You can even through in a phone call 3 days before the deadline, especially if there is a school that you need feedback from for political reasons.

Phase 4: Analysis

Review your survey results, noting where your institution does well and where you fall short. What are the great ideas that stick out? What resources do other organizations have that you don’t? How might you get access to those resources?

Compose your results into an executive summary sheet of 1-3 pages that can be included with your strategic plan or sent to relevant stakeholders as a stand-alone report. This report will be for your institution. You'll also need to consolidate and package up the raw survey results to send to your peer participants in Phase 5.

Phase 5: Follow-Up

Be professional and prompt with your follow up. Send a copy of every survey or the consolidated results to all survey participants. Do this within 2 weeks from the survey deadline. Thank them profusely and perhaps include an invitation to establish an on-going professional support relationship.

Maybe you start a Facebook or LinkedIn group where you can compare data throughout the year on an ad-hoc basis. These relationships are of great value to your institution and to your own career.

Conclusion

This process shouldn’t be intimidating and when you are done with it, you will have some important tools in your strategic planning process.

I did this exact process at The University of Southern Mississippi to prove my point that the annual fund had historically under-performed. The benchmarking study certainly showed the under-performance but it also showed similar institutions were raising so much more money, which meant there was no reason Southern Miss couldn’t do it too with strategy, consistency and investment. I’m happy to say that’s exactly what happened. I’m pleased to report the program has now exceeded the five year goals I set for it back in 2011-2012 when I did the benchmarking study.

If you do this project, you’ll have some persuasive data to lobby for changes to your program. Plus, you’ll be seen as a self-starter not only in your office or institution but in the broader development community as well. It’s worth it.

Have you undertaken a benchmarking study? Why or why not? What conclusions came out of your study?

As always, comments and questions are welcome and encouraged!

Cheers,

Jessica

PS - If you liked this post, you might also like these: 

• Goals versus projections
• What should a strategic plan contain?
• Planning for the Unexpected

PPS - If you found this article helpful, please comment and let me know. Also subscribe to Real Deal Fundraising so you don't miss a post! You'll get my  guide to Call Center Games for Free!​​

Part of my mission at Real Deal Fundraising is to support young fundraising professionals so that they stay in this industry and grow their careers.

To that end, I’ve been thinking about which skills I would advise a new fundraising professional to cultivate in order to have the best chance of career success. Here’s my list in no particular order

• INTEGRITY
  • Have integrity and everything that it implies. That means you have high ethical standards and you keep your promises from the large to the small. You arrive to meetings on time and prepared (except in rare emergency cases) and you stay out of all gray ethical areas.
  • This is foundational and I'm not sure you could succeed for very long in fundraising without it. As your relationships with donors evolved, your lack of integrity would be uncovered and they would stop giving through you.
• SINCERITY
  • You have to care. Really care. Deep down in your bones care. If a donor feels slighted, it should keep you up at night. You must believe in the mission of your institution. If there is a misalignment in that area, donors will sense it.
  • Be genuine. It’s rare these days. Being your authentic self makes you attractive. People want to be around someone who is real.
• IMPECCABLE MANNERS
  • Being sincerely yourself should not be interpreted as license to really kick back and be completely candid or crass with donors or co-workers. It’s okay to have fun at the office and even pal around a bit with donors, but you must be able to draw clear boundaries. Never give your colleagues or donors anything less than the utmost respect you are capable of.
  • The basics must be there: “Please” “Thank you” and all customs of civility, holding doors for someone behind you, holding the elevator, etc. I'm planning an entire post about etiquette for fundraisers. Coming soon.
• TENACITY
  • Track everything and document everything. Use data and technology to your advantage to get the gift closed. The famous makeup artist, Bobbi Brown says, “Blend and when you think you’ve blended enough, blend some more.” For fundraisers, “Follow up and when you think you’ve followed up enough, follow up some more.” Make the gift happen.
  • Make your follow up a service to the donor. “I know you’re busy, so if we don’t hear from you, I’ll email/call/remind you in one week. Does that sound reasonable?”
• RESILIENCY
  • Resiliency is like tenacity with a side of self-care. Think Chumbawamba: You get knocked down, but you get up again. Don’t take anything personally, even though you care deeply. Connect back to the mission of your organization, remember your successes and move on to the next prospective donor.
• CURIOSITY
  • Be relentlessly curious. Pursue all continuing education options you can and put what you learn into action. Seek out best practices and evaluate them on their effectiveness (not their NBS factor: new, bright and shiny). Use your creativity grounded in the data to be an innovator.
• WRITING SKILLS
  • Writing for fundraising is hard. Really hard. It is a unique mix of skills that combines impeccable grammar and presentation with crystal clarity and intense emotion with a strong call to action. You must make sure that the message and the mission come across. And you must learn to do this in many formats, from a twitter post to a long form direct mail letter. It’s a tall order. Find good mentors and examples to hone these skills.
• CONVERSATION SKILLS AND LISTENING
  • Fundraisers must talk about themselves, but not too much. They must talk about their institution, but not too much. They must make it all about the donor, without talking too much. They must listen for relevant details and ask engaging questions. They must talk about subjects (like money and estate planning) that are taboo in our culture. I recommend regular “mock conversation” practice with colleagues to hone these skills.

 
Most of these are abstract skills and really more traits that you can cultivate. All of them can be developed and maintained. Of the eight, I believe “Integrity” is the most important because it is foundational. The rest simply don’t matter without it.

Second most important, in my estimation, is curiosity because it is engine behind your growth in this industry. Even if you have all of the other skills, you won’t keep up with the changes and trends without the drive to continually learn.

To that end, I’ll continue to provide information and resources here on Real Deal Fundraising so the professionally curious can get the ideas they need to succeed as fundraising professionals.

Did I overlook an essential fundraising skill? What would you add to this list?  Comments and questions are, as always, welcomed and encouraged!

Cheers,

Jessica Cloud

PS - If you liked this post, you might also like these: 

• Applying to be a Certified Fundraising Executive
• Oh, The Places You Could Go, Resources for Job Seekers in Philanthropy
• Planning for the Unexpected

PPS - If you found this article helpful, please comment and let me know. Also subscribe to Real Deal Fundraising so you don't miss a post! You'll get my  guide to Call Center Games for Free!​​

Connecting with a donor or potential donor is so vital before you ask for a gift. It's like removing many of the roadblocks between you and that "YES!" response you want.

People want to give to people they like. It's not much of a secret. Ultimately, as a fundraiser you are a conduit for the relationship between that donor and the institution (not with you personally) but they must enjoy speaking with you to want to continue a relationship with the institution.

This is an important skill for any fundraiser to develop, from phonathon callers on up to executive directors, deans and development officers.

I have been to MANY call centers where they use the same tired rapport-building questions year after year after year. We cannot let this happen. No one wants to spend their precious time telling a new person why they haven't been back to campus lately just like they did last year.

Bad rapport-building has the opposite effect on the donor than that which we wish to cultivate.

The first rule of building rapport is it must be DIALOG not MONOLOGUE. You must ask questions that will solicit meaningful conversation and back and forth. You (no matter if you are a student caller or the Vice President of Advancement) must not deliver a litany of great-stuff-happening-at-our-institution without stopping for breath.

So, following this rule, we must construct meaningful rapport building questions.

The second rule about rapport building is that these questions get stale. Every year (at least) new rapport builders should be generated and put into rotation.

Here is some guiding criteria for generating these questions. Rapport building questions should:

• Extract meaningful information (like employment and campus affinities).
• Make the prospect like the caller/staffer as quickly as possible.
• Be delivered in a genuine way.
• Not be able to be answered with “Yes” or “No”.
• Not merely deliver talking points about the college or university.
• Provide opportunities for smooth transitions to the first ask.
• Collect new demographic information about prospects and verify current info (but not in a “canned” or perfunctory way).

What are some examples of strong rapport-building questions?

• Were you close to any faculty members while you earned your degree?
• Are working in the same field in which you earned your degree?
• Did you know that the <> recently <>? Isn't that great?
• I thought you might like to know that we've had a lot of success in <>. What do think about that?
• I see that you attended our recent <>. Do you have any feedback for <> about that event that I could pass along?
• You know, I am not sure about the answer to that question. But I can get back to you if I could get your cell phone number or email. I'll research that and contact you.
• Why did you make your first gift to <>? What keeps you giving?
• What are you most passionate about here at <>?
• I see you are <> as I was/am. That's wonderful to know. Do you know <>?

Does your rapport building need a refresh? Do you have some favorite rapport-building questions that I forgot to mention on my list? Comments and questions are, as always, welcomed and encouraged!

Cheers,
​
Jessica Cloud

PS - If you liked this post, you might also like these:

• 5 Ideas to Improve Mock Calling
• Annual Fund versus Annual Giving: What's the difference?
• The 30 Minute Fundraiser

PPS - If you found this article helpful, please comment and let me know. Also subscribe to Real Deal Fundraising so you don't miss a post! You'll get my guide to Call Center Games for Free!​​

​One of the most important alliances at a nonprofit organization is between the fundraising staff and the marketing/communications staff. Making sure that the message about the funds needed and how those funds connect to mission is a crucial element of success.

Despite the importance of cooperation, it can be frustrating for fundraisers to work with public relations officers who don't have much experience with advancement work. The communication folks may find messaging about fundraising to be crass or pushy. Consequently, they might not want to give development the appropriate amount of space in the marketing channels.

Here a few tips I've used to improve the working relationship between development and marketing/communication colleagues:

EDUCATION

Educate them on what it takes to do your job! Let them know what your goals are and let them know how many messages and how many different channels you need to be participating in order to reach those goals. Show them statistics and analytics. Help make your goals into their goals.

HELP THEM HELP YOU

Make it as easy for them as possible to assist you. That means drafting a lot of your own messaging whenever possible, selecting your own images and putting all of that together into a comprehensive plan. Whether the plan is for social media or email or even your direct mail, if they assist you in managing any processes, be very clear about dates, times, and details.  Having your plan together will help get them on board.

SET THE TONE FOR TEAMWORK

Like any important colleagues, acknowledge what it is that bring that they bring to the table that is unique. Make them understand that you're on the same team. As fundraisers, we strive to be donor-centric and therefore we are advocates for our constituents. Assure them you don't want to over-message to your constituents either. You're both playing on the same team and the goal of that team is to bring in the resources necessary for the organization to complete its important mission.

BE FIRM ABOUT THE CALL TO ACTION

Being a team player doesn't mean being a pushover. You understand the best way to motivate your prospects to give. Don't let your calls to action get buried in more general promotional materials. Insist upon clarity in this portion of your communication and you will see success. Similarly, be firm about deadlines. More general marketing materials aren't as time-bound as annual giving. It's called annual for a reason. You only have one year to get it done.

FOCUS ON STORYTELLING

Play to the strengths of your communications colleagues by asking for their assistance with storytelling. Framing a moving and emotional narrative will only make your fundraising materials stronger. This is a skill that should come very naturally to your communications allies. Tap their creativity in this area and not only will your messages improve but your colleagues will feel like an integral part of the team.

I've worked at institutions where the dynamic between these two departments was less-that-optimal and it hampered fundraising productivity. I've also worked at institutions where there was a team atmosphere and mutual understand of goals. Everything is much easier when you focus on relationships first and foster learning and communication surrounding goals.

How does the development team work with the communication staff at your institution? Do the two groups function as partners or as a client-service relationship? Comments and questions are, as always, welcomed and encouraged!

Cheers, 

Jessica Cloud  

PS - If you liked this post, you might also like these: 

• People Give Because They Are Asked
• Prioritize Your Relationship with Advancement Services Staff
• Crisis Communication 

PPS - If you found this article helpful, please comment and let me know. Also subscribe to Real Deal Fundraising so you don't miss a post! You'll get my  guide to Call Center Games for Free!