A Lesson You Need to Learn About Fundraising

It’s not about you.

I’m embarrassed to say it took me years to realize this. I—like you, maybe—was filled with enthusiasm for my organization. That’s good. It’s really hard to do good work when you don’t feel that way. But I let it color my fundraising perspective.

This lesson can come into play in so many ways. From details, when a design-minded staffer insists you use a sans serif font on every written word because that’s your brand. (It’s not. But that’s a whole other post.)

Or, when the board chair hates the letter he’s supposed to sign because it’s two pages long.