A dependable revenue stream that grows—ah, paradise!
Have a fundraising challenge you want to crack? Weary of doing the same old, same old yet hoping for different outcomes? Do you want the over-the-top results that come from superior strategy?
Email me with your particular problem, and I'll arrange a quick consultation offering you a practical solution you can implement. I may even use your situation to share with my readers. Names are changed, of course!
I spoke with a successful businessman last week who related to me his recent experience as the board member for a youth charity in the Northwest.
I hear from fundraisers and nonprofit executives alike bemoaning how they wish their board members were engaged and eager to fundraise. I'm sure you've heard it, as well.
Bill is eager—or was, that is.
Let's rewind a few years when this organization, a local chapter of a national nonprofit, was in dire financial straits. Fundraising was in the tank. Finances were in tatters. The national chapter was making real noise about pulling the local chapter's charter.
Bill was on the board and urged the group to get serious about reaching out to its supporters. Assignments were made, and board members began asking. The results were nothing less than astounding. In just one year, fundraising totals hit six times the previous all-time high.
So far, so good. A couple of years go by, and a new executive director arrives.
Bill, who gives a sizable cash gift of his own each year, recently offered to provide a simple phone app free of charge to help board members and other volunteers keep track of their calls.
The response took him aback. Seems that in the intervening couple of years, the dysfunctional culture of the past resurfaced. The culture of being comfortable with failure.
Bill's offer was politely declined. I almost laughed out loud when he relayed to me the reason he was given. "We don't have an IT department," said the new executive director. The phone app can be downloaded and navigated by a 6-year-old. Even curmudgeons like me can navigate the likes of Facebook on my iPhone.
What's more, the executive told Bill there wasn't any need as she was directing board members simply to recontact the individuals who gave last year and "demand"—that's the word she used—the donor re-up at the same level. That's because, "everyone knows we only need 100 percent for us to get our grant renewed," the executive flatly stated.
Peter Drucker said that culture trumps strategy every time.
A working strategy and the recent experience of being snatched from near death wasn't enough to change an organizational mind-set of being comfortable with failure.
Bill has left the board. He's taken his five-figure annual cash gift with him.
When their fundraising totals plummet—as they surely will—don't be surprised if the national headquarters doesn't place the chapter on probation again for financial insolvency.
What I told Bill, he already knew. Being successful demands the mind-set of success.
I have seen many a nonprofit steeped in what I call the culture of scarcity. Think poor. Act poor. Be poor. "After all, if we're on the financial edge it's not our fault." Or is it?
Being successful in fundraising is much, much more about how you think than what you do. This will be my theme at the NoNprofit Pro Leadership Conference in May. It's also what I proclaim at my mind-set-changing Triple Win Events.
Fundraising success—changing the world—is within the grasp of anyone who really wants it. I challenge anyone to dispute that.
Principle 3 of The Eight PrinciplesTM is Leadership LeadsTM. Let's hope you've set the right course.
I thanked Bill. He was a stranger when he phoned. No longer. Today we're soul mates in an effort to make the world a better place.
Let me hear from you. Please share your situation and the challenges you face in developing sustainable revenue streams. Email me (info@TheEightPrinciples.com), and I'll arrange a brief consult providing you with practical guidance. I'll choose some of these thorny obstacles to share, along with my insights, in upcoming columns.
Success is waiting. Go out and achieve it.
Larry believes in the power of relationships and the power of philanthropy to create a better place and transform lives.
Larry is the founder of The Eight Principles. His mission is to give nonprofits and philanthropists alike the opportunity to achieve their shared visions. With more than 25 years of experience in charitable fundraising and philanthropy, Larry knows that financial sustainability and scalability is possible for any nonprofit organization or charitable cause and is dependent on neither size nor resources but instead with the commitment to create a shared vision.
Larry is the author of the award-wining book, "The Eight Principles of Sustainable Fundraising." He is the Association of Fundraising Professionals' 2010 Outstanding Development Executive and has ranked in the Top 15 Fundraising Consultants in the United States by the Wall Street Business Network.
Larry is the creator of the revolutionary online fundraising training platform, The Oracle League.
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