As a fundraiser, you have an essential obligation to “lead from now” if you want to succeed! Other staff members have other important responsibilities, but no one else has as much need to reach out to the rest of the organization to be successful. The role of fundraiser is large, because reaching out to other parts of the organization is almost always required for you to achieve fundraising success because you are depending on them for your product. The survey which found that 51 percent of fundraisers wanted to leave their jobs in the coming year with the main reason being they don’t get support from the rest of the organization is shocking!
The Unique Responsibilities of Fundraisers
Ensuring Organizational Functionality
As a fundraiser:
You need an organization that functions well in every way, because this makes your organization attractive to donors.
You are the ambassador representing what donors want in order to make donations. You need to understand what they want, and you are responsible for communicating this to the rest of the organization.
You need to “lead from now” and take advantage of every “open opportunity” to help ensure these critical pieces are in place. Otherwise, you are trying to raise donations for a cause that is not appealing or attractive to donors!
Working Towards a Donor-Attractive Organization
Count yourself fortunate if you are in an organization already doing everything right. In the best-performing nonprofit organizations, the board and senior management are already doing the right things and doing them well. But according to surveys and other research, this is not the case for the majority of nonprofits. Therefore, it is up to you as the fundraiser. No one else has this broad responsibility, and you cannot succeed on your own.
Sure, the finance department needs to get accurate and timely financial reports from all units, but that department also has control over budgets and can take appropriate action if reports are not accurate and on time. Staff members in other departments are often 100 percent focused on their primary tasks. Executive directors and boards may be addressing other issues.
Leading by Example
In my workshops and consulting, I stress that fundraising is not about money; it’s about who you are, what you do, and why a donor should trust you. The fundraiser is the one telling prospective donors all about the organization and is, in a way, presenting the proof of the product or program that donors will want to support.
Real-World Examples
In virtually every organization in which I have worked, I had to push these issues sometimes to the very edge of my ability to be pleasant and cordial with my colleagues. For example, I had to tell the program director that the results his department was getting (and not even measuring) were not good enough for what I needed to share with donors.
I had to tell the finance director that the financial reports were not on time and donors were not satisfied with how these reports were presented. I needed a program expenditures audit that would reflect the significant categories of program support as described in our fundraising promises based on our strategic plan.
I had to work to change the thinking of our board members about their fundraising responsibilities and work to get new board members who had more experience in marketing and fundraising.
Finding Allies
Again and again, I went out on a limb to challenge my colleagues to make changes. The good news is that I found allies:
The program director used my comments or, in his words, my demands to improve reporting from the program staff with more measurements of results and more human interest stories. He also saw that increasing the fundraising budget was in his best interest because this would expand the program budget in future years.
The finance director understood the business of investing in fundraising to get the return of increased donations. He saw that investing in the fundraising budget was the equivalent of investing in research, product development, and marketing for a company.
After getting a good strategic plan in place, I could turn to the board of directors and challenge the members to have their own board development plan and to provide more support for the fundraising effort.
The Importance of Internal Leadership
Your leadership goal internally is to make sure everything possible throughout the organization is done to make it an attractive organization for donors. As a leader in the organization, you need to get everyone else to look for what they can do, inspire them to take action, and ensure they get results. Meanwhile, your management tasks as a fundraiser focus on fundraising and marketing activities to make sure you are doing everything right to get the external results you want.
Two Caveats to Consider
“Doesn’t the executive director already do all this?” In many small and medium-size organizations, the executive director is busy with myriad other responsibilities, especially program issues, and may not have the inclination, time, or ability to focus on creating a donor-attractive organization. The smart way to respond to this situation is simply to articulate that it is a sharing of responsibilities between the executive and the fundraiser.
“Our organization has already solved the challenge of being donor-attractive.” If this is really the case, the fundraiser can concentrate on the primary responsibility of marketing and fundraising. An organization that is responsive and donor-attractive will already be successful in its fundraising and, therefore, will grow into a larger and more competent organization.
Conclusion
Has your organization or group done all that is needed to make it attractive to donors? If not, this is an open opportunity for real fundraising leadership! It is necessary to provide donors what they want; otherwise, you won’t get their contributions. It is as simple as that.
In addition to your skills in fundraising and marketing, the most important skill is your leadership. Recall the six steps of leadership I listed earlier: networking so you have partners and allies, seeing what needs to be done so you focus on important matters for fundraising, seizing opportunity so you can get the right things done, stepping up to lead in important ways within the organization, and running meetings well so you secure agreement and support for what needs to be done to become an organization that attracts donors. And, of course, make sure you are guided by the values of making this a better world!
Summary of the Unique Leadership Role of Fundraiser
Leadership does not reside in the position but in the person.
The vision for a better society is what a fundraiser promotes.
Fundraising success depends on the organization doing things well.
You can start “leading from now” from wherever you are, right now.
Your challenge is to step up now and take responsibility to get things done.
The first thing you need to “lead from now” is the desire or ambition to do it.
Being closest to donors, fundraisers must know what the organization needs to do.
Regardless of your position, you must lead your organization to fundraising success.
Each of us has only one lifetime and only one “now” to do what we want to do. I say: Why wait? Why not start leading from now? I encourage you to step forward as a leader to ensure your organization has a greater impact – and makes a greater difference in our world!
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