Beyond Capacity Building: Six Ways Funders Can Boost Individual Giving Today

It's no secret that individual giving has been in decline for years. It's my opinion that this is directly connected to a decline in fundraising as a profession. I have been a nonprofit fundraiser for 40 years now. And I am seeing good, solid professionals leave our profession in frustration. It's still a fact that the average tenure of a Development Officer is 16 months.

Furthermore, The vast majority of those doing fundraising out there are not just people with the title of Development Officers but many Executive Directors of small and medium nonprofits. For smaller and medium-sized nonprofits there is a total lack of adequate training and support.

Giving comes from fundraising. Has for 150 years. You have to ask to make giving happen. It can’t be automated; AI cannot do it. People must.

So instead of hitting this issue again. I wanted to write down 6 key things funders could do to help boost individual giving. I can hear many foundations think this might not affect them. Well, it does. If you're funding Early Childhood Education, for example. You can write grants in that area, but you can also strengthen the nonprofits in that sector. So that they eventually don’t rely on your grants.

This is now terribly relevant as we are facing a new federal funding situation where our non-profit sector will be under attack. Many federal departments will cut or eliminate grants that our nonprofits rely upon. So, for example, if you're in Early Childhood Education, you might see the nonprofits you have supported decimated and even close their doors.? We need to help them strengthen themselves. Here’s how:

Invest in Professional Development- It may seem odd to say that most nonprofits in the US do not have fundraising training available because most nonprofits are small and medium-sized organizations. The industry that trains fundraisers is geared toward those who pay well. Universities and hospitals etc. To many outside of our profession, the idea of being trained to fundraiser seems odd and even unnecessary. Our profession gets a lot of disrespect. It's treated as something anyone could do. It's not.

This is especially true in communities of color in the US. My experience is with Latino-focused nonprofits nationwide. Of the hundreds of nonprofits I am working with a tiny fraction have ever received any type of fundraising training. Many funders like to group communities of color into the artificial grouping of “BIPOC”. This simply doesn’t work for Latino-focused nonprofits as we are different from other communities of color around fundraising, money, and giving. Etc. Even inside the Latino community itself there are differences in philanthropy, giving and money.

Furthermore, our communities will be the most targeted in the coming years. We need to have valuable nonprofits working on a range of issues in communities of color strengthened right now.

My experience leading Somos El Poder, the first Latino fundraising institute in the US that culturally competent, practical training backed up with tailored counsel and mentorship works. We have data that shows that 80.5% of our members have improved fundraising. So this is a powerful investment.

Write Grants that Support Growth in Fundraising- We need grants that support growing fundraising. Some would say these are “capacity building” grants. But rarely do these go toward fundraising. They end up spent on “leadership”. We need professional development funded, board education, and training. One could even underwrite a development position for a few years to jumpstart new fundraising.? A common need in fundraising is marketing and new donor acquisition. So there are commonly many things a funder could support to jumpstart fundraising and assist in its growth.

Endow a Development Team—If you have a large budget, you could endow a development position or team. Yes, I know this is a big-ticket grant. I have seen this done twice. It’s a way to make financial growth very likely at most institutions. Development work takes learning and time on the job, especially learning how to promote an organization. So, safety and longevity on the job help make that happen.

Support Prospect Research- One powerful tool few small and medium nonprofits have is prospect research. If you go to almost any university, there are teams of Prospect Research staff identifying new donors and opportunities for fundraising staff. They help strengthen fundraising in a myriad of ways. They are essential for many types of fundraising, especially Major Giving. Yet in small and medium nonprofits many have never even heard of this method or profession. A good Executive Director or Development Director can do a great deal with a researched list of likely prospects that might support their nonprofit. That takes work and expertise. A funder for a very small grant could support their valuable nonprofits receiving Prospect Researched lists of likely donors.

Network Them—This method usually requires no money. How can we introduce our best grantees to other funders? Can we create convenings? Can we leverage our relationships? I have had great funders do this for me, but it is not common. We know that foundation teams are approached a lot so how do we create low-pressure situations where funders can see a lot of potential future partners?

Recruitment—We need to recruit, train, and empower whole new generations of fundraisers and create much more diverse fundraisers nationwide. There are university nonprofit programs, I have taught at two. Some have good fundraising training, and some do not. Supporting those programs is a great idea, but there are also a few programs to recruit and train new fundraisers of color out there. One is our La Vanguardia program at Somos El Poder. Check it out. We need young people with fresh perspectives in our profession. Supporting these programs creates a pipeline that can counter a lack of diversity and departures in our profession.

The context in which I write this has only increased the urgency of this type of funding. We should anticipate a decline in federal funding and probably many funders pulling back from funding racial and social justice issues. It's time to not just write grants, but shift gears for the times and strengthen nonprofits.

Funders could very well write grants to nonprofits for programs that took major federal or grant cuts, organizations that have to close or cannot implement programs anymore. No, it’s time to strengthen these organizations for coming changes and uncertainty. Helping them create a more diverse, community-based, and vibrant funding base should be the priority right now.

I hope this will spark discussion and reach out to me with your thoughts.