Time for Fundraisers to 'Shift & Reset'

It's not to say stop asking for things. It's not to say that money isn't necessary. But it's the old adage in fundraising, "You ask for advice, you get money; you ask for money, you get advice." Start asking for other forms of help. Start asking for more advice. Because not only am I confident that if you ask the right people for the right things they'll provide it and that will be helpful for you, but they'll become just as invested in your project and the fundraising issues will not be as significant.

FS: Seeing how this book is a completely different look as to what fundraisers have done traditionally, how is the book being received so far? What kind of feedback have you gotten?

BR: Very positive. I think I say a lot of things in the book that people agree with but don't necessarily feel comfortable saying. So I get a lot of, "Thank you for saying it."

At the same time, I get a lot of people who are angry at me for not giving them an easy answer. I hosted a webinar going through some of the elements in the book and I'm talking about stopping things, and the moderator online is getting all of these all-caps comments saying, "Why won't he give us specifics?" So she asked me the question and I said I can't give you specifics because each situation is different, and that's exactly the point.

If you want the answer that if you get on Twitter everything will get better, then not only do I think that's in most cases, if not all cases, the wrong answer, you can go to someone else for that because I'm trying to look at both the short-term and long-term needs that organizations have and the challenges that we're facing and the opportunity that's been created by this wonderful, connected, digital society that we live in.