5.4 Calling the question of fundraising

Barrie called me one morning…

“I’m good at getting grants, but we still needed $20,000 to top off the budget for the year, so I thought I’d ask the Board for help. At the meeting last night, I asked them if they could pull together and raise that twenty grand.

“Immediately the Vice Chair said, ‘When was the last time we evaluated this ED? Let’s get a committee together and get going.’

“Not another word was said about fundraising.

“Why did they do that?”

This was not the first time I’d heard such a story, so it was easy to answer her…

“You asked them to do something they didn’t want to do, and instead of responding in a kind and reasonable way, they got their backs up.”

“Was it wrong for me to ask?”

“Do you genuinely need help?”

“Yes, I really do. I raise half a million, so twenty thousand seems like a very small ask.”

“To you it does, but what if they not only don’t like fundraising, but they don’t believe they can do it?”

“Oh, I’ll bet that’s it. These are people who care about the organization. And every one of them is competent in his or her career. I’ll bet they felt like I was asking them to step up to the plate, a plate where they would fall flat on their faces and be embarrassed.”

“I’ve seen that with other Boards.”

“So what should I do instead?”

“First thing is, if you want Board members to do fundraising, it’s best to make that deal with them in your recruiting conversation. Most people are scared of asking for money.”

“Okay, from now on I’ll do that. But what do I do in the meantime?”

“You can tell them they don’t have to do fundraising.”

“They’ll love that, but do you really mean I should just let them off the hook?”

“No, because you follow that up with a request. Imagine if you went to the next Board meeting and said something like this…

I want to recommend that we have a policy that says no Board member has to go out and ask for money unless they’d enjoy doing it and really want to do it.

But here’s the thing, this is an organization that does need its Board to help out with fundraising. We need a pot of unrestricted money each year and our grants don’t give us that. We use those unrestricted funds to pay for the special enhancements that we provide our teens.

For example, we sent Erica to an African dance class. She never talked in her counseling sessions before that. But afterwards, she opened right up.

Same with Ronnie after we sent him to a workshop on how to become a broadcaster.

And we bought Darren a guitar. He’s never without it now. Last week he led the other kids in singing. It was such a sweet time.

These enhancements turn lives around. They supercharge our counseling program. But such things are too far outside the box for our funders. So we’re on our own if we want to provide them.

I really mean it that I don’t want any of you to feel pressured to go out and ask for money if you don’t really want to. But would you as a Board be willing to help me recruit four or five new members who do like asking and who would agree upfront to raise $20,000 per year?

“If you tried this approach, how do you think they would respond?”

“I think there’s a good chance they’d get behind me on that. I mean, don’t you think those enhancements would be fun to raise money for? I’m giving them the easy part of fundraising. What about this? What if I offer any Board member who’s interested to teach them how to ask?”

“How would you pitch that offer?”

“I’d tell them I’d help them find their own way of asking, and I’d go out with them a couple times to help them vaporize their fears.”

“And what would that give them?”

“They would get to take pride in the contribution they’re making to our work. But also people who are good at asking do better in life in general. Any Board member who got good at asking for money would probably do a whole lot better at asking for what they want at their workplace or at home.”

Here’s another story. I’ve heard this one about a zillion times. The ED says, “I need help with fundraising.” And the Board says…

“Let’s do a special event!”

Which might sound encouraging, except the translation usually reads…

“We’re punting. Because the staff will have to do all the work to throw the event and then we’ll get to show up for the fun that night. If money doesn’t get raised, then we can say, ‘Well, we tried our best.’

“Or if money does come in, we’ll acknowledge the proceeds, say $4,000, but ignore what it took in staff time to produce the event, say $5,000.”

What’s going on here?

My best guess is that Board members think a special event absolves them from asking for money. Of course, most special events succeed only if a whole lot of asking is going on, because how else are you going to get people to buy tickets or show up or do whatever you need them to do?

But an event is a global responsibility, which is a lot easier to slick out of than an individual responsibility. The accountability gets much more slippery.

Here’s something I’ve learned over the years…

Most nonprofit Boards will do almost anything not to have to go out and ask for money.

And I don’t really blame them—if they hate fundraising, and if they didn’t agree to do it when they were recruited.

So I recommend that you…

Never push your Board to ask for money.

Instead…

Negotiate with them.

If you push, they might get tangled up in twisted feelings and turn snappish and if they were to put words to their feelings, it might sound something like this…

We know we should do fundraising but we’re not doing it, and we know we’re not going to do it, so how can we feel good about ourselves? Meanwhile, the ED’s pushing this in our faces, so we don’t like him anymore.

Of course if you push, it might also happen that a couple Board members will go out and ask—driven by guilt and resisting it every step of the way. So they’re likely to fail and where will that leave them?

I remember a guy on a Board who kept making promises to call all these VIP contacts he had, but it never happened…

Well, it’s tax season, so it’s not a good time.

Well, it’s summer, they’re probably all on vacation.

Well, the kids are going back to school, so everybody’s probably busy with that.

Well, it’s getting on toward the holidays, maybe we should wait till the new year.

The ED called him at home, so the conversation could be confidential, and said…

“Why do I keep getting the feeling that you really don’t like fundraising?”

“Oh, God, that’s true! I hate it but I don’t want to admit it. I don’t know why. I guess it doesn’t fit my image of myself. I’m supposed to be the guy who can do anything.”

“I appreciate you telling me that. And listen, I’d be glad to work with you if you want, so you can find a way of asking for money that works for you. But with this caveat. If you find your own best asking approach and you try it out and you still don’t like fundraising, then you don’t have to do it. How would that be?”

“Okay, I’m willing to try it. I don’t like being blocked by some dumb thing like this.”

A Chair (or an ED) could have a conversation with the whole Board with the same flavor of compassionate truth telling…

“We’re in a stuck place and it’s not fun. We talk a lot about fundraising, but we’re not doing it. So let’s take a moment and just get real.

“How many of us don’t like fundraising and wish it would just go away? Let’s see hands.

“Okay, that’s all of us except two who are not sure how they feel.

“So here’s the deal. Let’s play with a radical perspective. Let’s say that as Board members we don’t necessarily have to do the fundraising ourselves. But as Board members it’s our job to solve the fundraising problem.

“Do you see the difference?

“There’s a range of possible solutions. Here are some I can think of…

“1.  We work together to find the true asking voice for each Board member. They we go out and ask when we’re at our best, and anyone who still hates fundraising doesn’t ever have to do it again.

“2.  We have some open seats, so we recruit new Board members who like asking.

“3.  We set up a Board committee fundraising committee and recruit a bunch of non-Board members to be on it.

“4.  We adopt a group strategy for fundraising. For example, I find it easier to do an ask if someone is going with me. I hate doing it alone. And if we did fundraising as a group, that might be even easier.

“Perhaps we might do a cheap one-hour event, designed to touch people’s hearts, something we can feel really proud of so we’ll feel happy about inviting our friends and colleagues to it.

“Only one person will get up and do the ask for the whole group. A beautifully written ask delivered by whoever among us can do it the best.

“And the rest of us as table captains will, in a sense, be seconding the ask. We’re still involved in it, but without the full weight of it on our shoulders.”

“Those are the things I can think of. Any other ideas?

“What if we think this through together? Do you have faith that we can come up with an answer that really works for us?”

Now, let’s look at those options in turn:

1.  Finding your asking voice.
There are people who turn into great askers if they can only find a way to do it that’s in alignment with their values and their personality.

And for them it’s a wonderful breakthrough, not just as a Board member, but at home and at work, too, because when they get good at asking all kinds of doors open for them.

I have a page about doing what I call the Advocacy Ask. You stay in alignment with yourself while you advocate for your prospect. You want him to stay true to himself in deciding whether to give or not to give. You can check it out, and your Board members can check it out for themselves. Some people might decide to go for it.

And many won’t, so tell them to let it go and focus on the other options.

2.  Recruiting people who like to ask
If you need people on your Board who will go out and ask for money, then negotiate that with them in advance.

And I mean really negotiate. Be explicit, be direct, don’t leave any wiggle room for any doubt or any mistaken assumptions.

Please don’t throw a Fundraising Surprise Party…

“You’re on the Board now, and surprise! That means you’re a fundraiser!”

Once upon a time, I believed that when people said “I do” and joined the Board, they would automatically do all the things on the list of Board duties. I mean you made the commitment, so why wouldn’t you follow through?

I guess that means I could have won the National Nonprofit Championship for Naiveté.

If you want fundraisers, you have to recruit fundraisers. And there are people who sincerely enjoy asking for money for a mission they believe in. Not tons of them, but there are some, so go after them.

And it’s competitive because, as you can imagine, they’re in demand. So you have to convince them that your organization is worth their time, which is why you want to have…

A staff that’s performing at the top of their game, and

A Board that’s focused on the mission not personality antics.

And if you do recruit people who love to ask, they might, by example, or through mentoring, ignite some of your other Board members. And it’s a thrill to see Board members achieving success with something they thought they would never be able to do.

3.  Bringing in non-Board members
You don’t have to wait till you have Board openings. You don’t have to hand out a Board seat every time you ask someone to do something for you. The point of giving to a nonprofit is that the person has a need to make a difference for the mission.

Being on the Board is not a perk or a reward. It’s a matter of service.

And in fact, you might find people who are glad to give to your organization but who would never want to be on the Board. They just don’t have the interest in that kind of responsibility or the meetings that go with it.

Some Boards have found it works very well to have a fundraising committee, headed up by one or two Board members and filled out with a bunch of volunteer askers.

4.  Group fundraising
I’m a fan of the Benevon system because it’s a way for your Board members (and other supporters) to work together to bring in donations.

And if you’re…

Doing social-change work,

Why not…

Do social fundraising?

Unfortunately, after twenty-five years Benevon has gone our of business.

But you can still use the system they developed. Here’s a YouTube video of Terry Axelrod, the founder, describing the strategies Benevon.

If you watch the video you’ll notice that it matters that you keep all the core principles and pieces in place and in the right order. The program is conceptually very simple, but what powers it, what makes it work is that there’s a vigorous ask at the heart of it, and everything is organized around that ask.

I’ve seen people cheat on the ask part and the results are disappointing. It’s really amazing how being just a couple degrees off can make a huge difference in income.

There’s a discipline to this system. And a feel to it. Here are some of the principles that Benevon uses, as do other consultants who run successful short and focused events…

You put together a free one-hour point of entry event, where there’s no ask. This makes it so much easier for Board members and supporters to invite their friends, relatives, and colleagues.

This event initiates the connection. Some people will be impressed and write checks, but that’s not the point.

You do a follow up free one-hour ask event. You do a compelling program that starts right on time and ends right on time. You put serious time into developing a beautiful, moving, powerful ask.

Everything is so well thought through and so well produced that it’s like a super ask. If a Board member is uncertain about asking, I’d rather he brought his contacts to an event instead of winging the ask himself in a few minutes at someone’s home or at the water cooler at work.

There’s social proofing going on the whole time. Your credibility rises significantly when you can draw a crowd of interesting folks. And as some of the attendees get excited about what you do, they inspire others to get excited, too.

There’s no pressure to give. Encouragement, yes. When you ask you really ask. But you give people the complete freedom to say no, too.

These are simple events. They don’t count as special events.

These are cheap events. Once you’ve designed them and put them together, they take very little staff time. You can easily do them again and again anytime you can gather a group of people.

I once worked with a nonprofit on designing their annual luncheon. In the past, they had raised $8,000 tops. Which was pitiful because this nonprofit had great connections with people who could afford to make big donations, but the Board was super shy about asking.

So the ED and I decided to try the Benevon approach. In one hour we raised over $100,000 and everyone had fun.