When Complexity Stands in the Way of Fundraising

By: Michael Taylor, CFRE, CEO

To tweet this article, click here.

A third frequent impediment to successful fundraising that bares mentioning, even when taboo and the fear of making a mistake can be overcome, is the issue of complexity.

In a fiercely competitive environment, fundraisers steel themselves while they try to figure out how to get more money. But often a breakdown occurs when they enter that uncomfortable corporate office, say, or that of a government bureaucrat for a meeting. Suddenly, they’re faced with a steep learning curve, as cryptic acronyms are batted around the room like menacing flies. Feeling overwhelmed, the fundraiser cowers inwardly, thinking, “I just wanted to be of help. I didn’t enter this field to write a government grant. I just wanted to help the homeless or make sure that dying people had respect in the last weeks of their lives.” The seminal drive to do good withers against sophisticated business complications, and as a result, the fundraiser and the vast majority of nonprofits end up never getting off the dime. The way around this dilemma is surprisingly simple: ask questions. If you don’t know what to ask, you can always buy time by saying: “I’ll get back to you later on that.” Thousands of people have successfully completed grant applications or closed deals with corporate partners. With a bit more study time you can confidently add yourself to that list. Not knowing is forgivable; not caring enough to find out is just that.

 

This is part two of a four-part series covering the most common roadblocks to successful fundraising.

To read part one, The Most Common Roadblock to Successful Fundraisingclick here.

To read part two, Fundraiser Paralysis: Overcoming the Fear of Making a Mistake, click here.

We welcome your comments about this post on the NPI blog.

Leave a Reply

Related Posts

Has Donor Trust in Charities Changed?

In this age of “fake news”, “alternative facts” “hyper partisanship” and what seems to be a general erosion of trust, why should we even care?  And if we care what can we fundraisers do about it?

Of course, every fundraiser should care because trust is the lynchpin of a solid and sustainable relationship with a donor.  And because there are ways to measure trust, taking steps to increase the level of trust, and by doing so increase donor value and an organization’s net revenue.

Read More »

MacKenzie Strikes Again

You probably won’t recognize most of the names on the list of the top 50 mega-philanthropists.

MacKenzie Scott’s name, though, immediately rings a bell and puts a smile on the face of those of us serving in the non-profit sector.

Ironically, she is not on that list, unlike her ex-husband.

Yet we love her for the special sensitivity she shows us, and her latest “strike,” an announcement to give away $250 million in funding to small nonprofits, is no exception.

Read More »

The CEO as Chief Fundraiser: A Role That Should Never Be Delegated

Our recent posts have lasered in on fundraising perennials–retention of fundraising staff, annual funds, and why donors give.  Another perennial stacks up as equally worthy of thoughtful commentary, and that’s the role of the chief executive officer in fundraising.  

A short definition of a CEO is he or she who makes decisions.  Nowadays, we recognize the value of consensus decision-making, and that’s fine.  But the kinds of decisions I’m referring to are the big ones, decisions such as those made by the captain of a ship.

Read More »