Fundraising Is: Everything Done Before Asking for Money

By Patrick Belcher

An organized approach for setting fundraisers and their fundraising shop up for success from Day 1

Practical solutions to everyday challenges in fundraising

Helpful resources so fundraisers can measure the success of their efforts

The Toolbox at the end of each chapter summarizes key takeaways

Each chapter can be used independently to guide a fundraiser’s team in areas of need like relationship building event management, or storytelling

• Language: English
• Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
• Release date: May 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9781631954085

Patrick Belcher

Patrick Belcher instructs local nonprofit organizations on how to consistently raise money. His passion is to guide charities in developing a long-term strategy to gather resources that help them achieve their mission. He discovered how his sales background applied to fundraising while working for the American Red Cross where he exceeded fundraising goals. As a consultant, Patrick has worked with local affiliates of national groups like Adult & Teen Challenge. He has also worked at local addiction and recovery centers, organizations that support the arts, local private schools and other groups focused on education. Learn more about the strategies Patrick uses with his nonprofits on his blog at Pbjmarcomm.net. He currently resides in Suffolk, VA.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

CLIMBING A MOUNTAIN

Congrats on being an integral part of the world of non-profits. You are a game-changer in your community. Great fundraisers value people, make a difference, and hypnotize people with their storytelling. The choice to become a professional fundraiser is every bit as challenging and rewarding as choosing to climb a mountain.

Ed Barnard, a blogger on the Visit Rainier website calls his first ascent on Mount Rainier the adventure of a lifetime. Furthermore, he talks about how special the experience was.

Barnard’s blog could easily be talking about the world of fundraising as much as climbing a mountain when he shares, "It’s often a fast pace. At the least, it will feel fast because so much is happening at once." In climbing, there is your pack, the weather, your footing, physical condition, mental preparation, lighting, and the people climbing with you. In fundraising, there are campaigns, events, stewardship, cultivation, social media, storytelling, and then all the relationships one must leverage. As Barnard explains, in preparation for his climb, there is both physical conditioning and technical skills. A fundraiser can discuss the multiple tasks that are necessary and that require personal stamina and mental discipline of a solid strategy. He shares there are many good books about Rainier, and you should educate yourself, but a successful climb requires connecting with an experienced climber.

Please allow this book to serve as one of your guides and resource. Fundraising Is: Everything Done Before Asking For Money will be better when it is discussed and shared with an experienced colleague. Through discussion, you and your colleagues will grow. As the author, it was through this connection with someone of experience that I realized the value of my training in sales, and she helped me connect the dots. The new guy was helping a twenty-five-plus-year fundraising veteran sharpen her skills, and she helped me to understand my potential.

Barnard talks passionately about how preparation begins by getting to know the surroundings. It is important to understand the mountain. You must understand the different routes to the top, the vegetation, the wildlife, and the weather. In his blog, he observes the vegetation and wildlife and where the water was and what approaches had more access to water and the sun. In fundraising, it is no different. Certain approaches raise more money than others, or donors (like wildlife) respond to activity in their ecosystems in different ways. Barnard shares that there will be multiple groups on the same approach and some will pass you, and at times, your group will pass others. Notice them and acknowledge them, but it is not necessary to compete with them. There are multiple reasons for the different pace. The same in fundraising, many groups will try the same approach with varying results. This may be their twentieth time while this is only your first. Their needs may be different, so they must move faster. Don’t compete; just be aware.

Aptly, he shares that getting ready to climb Mount Rainier requires the "3 Ps: preparation, planning, and practice." He talks about how there are different ways to kick it up a notch with different gear, like the latest equipment and GPS and cell phone technology. One of the most interesting activities he shares is about hiking at night with out a flashlight to practice and become familiar with the environment of darkness. After all, one of the best times to hike is before the sun comes up and you may not have the hand for a particular flashlight or want to ensure a headlamp comfortably fits on your gear.

Fundraising requires the same "3 Ps." There are often ways you step up your fundraising through added software or new activities. However, sometimes you just need to experience the terrain or the activity. This could be putting on your own campaign or attending and helping with other organization’s campaigns. And sometimes, as much as you would like, you don’t have an extra hand or have the ability to comfortably fit in one more component. For instance, as simple and easy as it seems a raffle is to organize, there is no room at your event.

Subsequent climbs require just as much preparation and planning as the first climb. Just as every campaign and event will require the same level of preparation and planning and time. The only difference between the first event and subsequent events is your experience, and that will impact your pace and your goals. Whether we are talking about climbing 9,000 feet in eight miles or raising $1 million dollars in twelve months, both are quite a feat.

Understanding Your Surroundings

To become an effective fundraiser, you need to understand the culture at the non-profit. Whether you move up through the program side and are put in a position of leadership or come from outside the organization, understanding the culture is extremely valuable.

Professional and Personal Development

Many development personnel are solo acts. As a result, you may not have someone who is guiding you and ensuring you are getting the knowledge you need for long-term success. Not just your individual long-term success, but also for the long-term success of your organization.

Make time every week to invest in you. Here are some ideas:

Find a blog that provides nourishment for your professional development;

Find a blog that promotes your personal development.

Find a podcast that entertains and educates, one you can listen to while you are carrying out other duties. Personally, I listen to old-time radio dramas, such as Johnny Dollar and Dragnet because I find they also help me with my storytelling.

Once a month, connect with a mentor and solicit his or her opinion on a challenging subject for one hour.

Once a year, find a conference or educational opportunity and ask your organization to invest in you. Many colleges and universities sponsor sessions specific to fundraising. Also, trade organizations, including the Association of Fundraising Professionals, have regular meetings and learning opportunities.

As much as these activities contribute to your personal and professional growth, they play a role in your mental health, as well. It is important that you feel challenged and growing in your role—that is the value of blogs and podcasts. You also need to share experiences, thus the value of regular meetings and conferences with other fundraisers. We all need to have an outlet to release stress and laugh, and that is why I recommend humorous podcasts. One of my favorite books, which takes a humorist’s view of fundraising, is May I Cultivate You by Philip Perdue.

There are a couple of research pieces that share one day of training for a development professional usually yields between $25,000–$40,000 in additional results. Who can argue with this type of return on investment?

You’ll read more about setting up a training plan in Chapter 2.

MacGyver is Not a Compliment

MacGyver was a TV show in the 1980s that has recently been revived; it’s about a guy who could fix anything with a Swiss army knife, a paperclip, and duct tape, along with any other items that are within his reach. One thing that non-profit practitioners become adept at is doing with only what they have in front of them. Many are skilled at finding the latest free versions of software to help them with graphic design or event planning and marketing. Many hoard decorations and centerpieces from previous events to save on expenses.

Often, you fundraisers make it look so easy. No one will see the stress you go, through seeking donations of stuff because your budget is half of what you need. They will not understand why your kids think you are addicted to Pinterest because you are trying to find the least costly way to provide the WOW! factor at your next event. This is with no regard for the countless hours it will cost you to save a $100 to $200. It is unbelievable the number of $500 sponsorships that are traded for what costs a business only $50 or $100. That is nuts.

You are a real MacGyver when you are able to use your donor management system and come up with $10,000 or $50,000 or $100,000 in a pinch. It is easier to get motivated to save $100 on some centerpieces because that provides some instant gratification. However you were hired to raise money for your organization’s mission, not to showcase your crafting ability. When you get ready to invest hours on crafts, take time to evaluate if instead, you could raise $1000 in the same time you could save $200. Which is a better use of your time?

It Will Be Emotional

You are working with an amazing organization that has an incredible mission. Your job is to tell stories that motivate people’s hearts to give to your organization. These stories will impact you and will motivate you to do more.

In Chapter 7, I share the parable of the starfish. It’s the story of a young boy who is focused on making a difference for just one starfish, not all the ones that wash up on shore. Making a difference for just one is all our donors are trying to accomplish. Whether that is one disaster victim being served, one rescued animal, one person receiving individual care, or one plot of land that is left a little greener. That statistic of one needs to be your resolve. Eventually, you will help several at one time, and based on your skill level, that may be more appropriate. However, with all that you will witness, all you can do is your job, which is to raise money.

The Truth

So here is the truth about the position you are in: Fundraising is a sales position!

Don’t make that face.

You are selling the idea that you and the organization, in partnership with the donor, can make a difference. In reality, everyone is in sales. You have to sell yourself to your partner, your prospective employer, and a little bit to your friends and neighbors. To proclaim a belief or an idea as it relates to a product or an entity and receive funding as a result means that you are in sales.

Before those who have been in fundraising, development, advancement, and philanthropy (or one of the many other designations) may make a decision to stop reading this book, let me say that fundraising is also many other things.

In the Twenty-first Century, fundraising is so much more than its roots. Fundraising dates back to several origins: the compassion of religious communities to serve those in need; the American Red Cross assisting those impacted by war; or the wisdom of Andrew Carnegie and John Rockefeller to understand their obligation to give back.

One of the earliest stories of fundraising is in the Twelfth Century. St. John of Matha raised funds from the noble community he was once a part of to purchase Christians, who had been captured and sold into slavery, so he could set them free.

Today, non-profit organizations are integral parts of our communities, doing important work that includes research, helping the poor, and inspiring entrepreneurs. In recent years, work in charitable organizations has become a career for professionals, not just a volunteer role for community members.

Fundraising is a career. Now, community colleges and universities have courses focused on non-profit management and fundraising. There are multiple professional organizations that promote the profession. The private business community (along with the non-profit community) is recognizing the parallels between charities and business. It is much more than a spin-off from religious organizations or bands of committed community members meeting around kitchen tables.

Fundraising is an opportunity. To those who want to create and support change, fundraising provides donors with the opportunities to do just that through their time, talent, and treasure. Fundraising, in whatever form, provides the organized opportunity for individuals and organizations to make an impact with their collective support.

In their book, Rainmaking, Roy Jones and Andrew Olsen identify the job of fundraising as the Philanthropic Matchmaker. They say, [I] take compassionate, caring people and match them with worthy successful programs to create partnerships that help improve our communities. I call that creating the