Fundraisers: This Is Your Time To Shine

In talking with Executive Directors, CEOs, Development Directors, Finance Officers and others over the past three weeks, there is one clear, unifying thread:

People are worried about funding.

It's understandable. There is a lot of uncertainty right now and no one knows for sure what is going to happen next. The Federal CARES Act was a needed good first step but most experts agree it was a necessary first step and there needs to be more as things progress.

So far, as I am continuing conversations about Bloomerang with people, organizations are falling into one of two camps.

First we have the people who are putting everything on hold until we see how things are going to shake out and what will happen next. This is understandable, but incredibly damaging, IF it is being done across the entire organization. 

I was in sales during the 2008 Financial Crisis and one of my managers talked about one of our options being to curl up in a fetal position and try to weather things as best we could. 

We then talked about how we didn’t want to do that because there is a better way. That better way is the second camp I mentioned above.

The second camp belongs to those who have realized that their mission is critical (perhaps now more than ever) and they need to raise money. Now. If their mission is to remain operational, they need to focus in on those Major Donors who have been and continue to be relatively unaffected by this uncertainty. 

We've been talking to customers like that for the past few weeks; and are collecting their stories.

Those fundraisers are the ones who realize that now, right now, they need to right tools for the job. If they aren’t currently tracking their interactions with their Major Donors, if they don’t have any capacity identification tools in place, or if there is no way to get a handle on how engaged donors are with their organization, they can’t do their job.

And right now, at this very minute, if fundraisers can’t do their job, the mission of the entire organization is in peril. 

Fundraisers, think carefully about this. Do you have the tools in place to thrive in this situation? Or are your tools going to make even weathering the storm difficult? 

There is a lot of pressure on your shoulders right now. Your co-workers are depending on you and your program recipients are too. I know it doesn’t feel like it, but NOW is the time to make a stand, go to your ED and talk with them about the need to bring fundraising in the door, and making sure you are in the second camp, not the first camp.

Your mission depends on it.