I Never Wanted to Be a Fundraiser

As I move closer to 50 years on this earth, I look back and reflect on how amazing it's been so far. Twenty-eight of those years I have been a fundraiser. I didn't choose fundraising as a career. For those who are my age and older, that's typically the case. I certainly didn't have aspirations to become a fundraiser when I was young kid, nor did I go to school for it.

It just happened.

I'm just so glad I did. And, I'm especially glad you did too. We need good people like you to inspire our industry. We need your passion, drive and energy to move us forward.

Here is a secret I want to let you in on. We have the greatest jobs in the world!

Every now and then I need to remind myself this. I'm not going to lie. There have been some very dark days in my work when I just wanted to crawl under a rock and hide. I have story after story of things that went terribly wrong. Days when hundreds of thousands of dollars were lost because of some mix-up, days where I dishonored people and messed up relationships, days where nothing seemed to go right.

But, as you know, this is part of our work. There are tremendous highs and incredible lows. One day you are celebrating a big gift and feeling great, and the next day a donor is calling to yell and tell you he will never give again.

But, through all of that, I still believe we have the greatest jobs ever. Why?

Because as fundraisers we are brokers of love. There is no other way I can put it. We are the bridge that brings together the world's greatest needs with a donor's desire and passion to change the world. You and I get to help donors give away money earned from their labor to make the world a better place.