When it comes to marketing, leadership, connection, and inspiring change, there is no one else out there quite like Seth Godin, my guest on this episode of What the Fundraising. Seth is a teacher, entrepreneur, best-selling author, speaker and so much more. In addition to launching one of the most popular blogs in the world, he has written 20 best-selling books, including The Dip, Linchpin, Purple Cow, and Tribes (just to name a few of my favorites). Seth has spent his career trying to get us to be the best version of ourselves and when necessary, change everything. 

For this reason, and because of the personal impact his work has had on my career, I wanted to have a conversation about how his work applies to fundraisers and the nonprofit space in particular.

As the son of parents rooted deeply in the nonprofit sector, Seth grew up around fundraising and regards fundraisers as powerful, professional agents for change. He’s not mincing words: it’s up to us to value and believe in exactly what we bring to the table. And fundraisers are bringing a lot of value to the table - the opportunity to give is a gift.

You’ll want to take notes on Seth’s actionable advice for managing everyday fundraising challenges like internal resistance, demanding donors, fundraising in moments of uncertainty, and why hyper-focusing on outcomes is a recipe for burnout. And of course, because it’s Seth Godin, we had to talk about the need to build real relationships with our donors if we want long-term donors and sustainable fundraising. The pants-on-fire marketing and fake urgency not only shut serious donors down at the moment, but they burn a bridge for years to come. We decide how we show up in our communications; we can’t show up transactionally and then be surprised when we have low donor retention because we designed our fundraising for that outcome. The good news is that there is an entirely different way to fundraise.

Seth’s famous quote, “people like us do things like this” demonstrates the way that donating is an important behavior rooted in identity. We talk about the fact that people not only choose your organization based on their current alignment with your work but inspiring people to give to your organization actually helps people cement their identity. Why does this matter? Because it means that fundraising isn’t just a ‘necessary evil’ to run our programs or a ‘means to an end’. It means that fundraising in itself - the movement of money in alignment with who people want to be - is actually a critical part of building your movement and community all on its own. 

To get all of the show notes and takeaways visit: malloryerickson.com/