Are you talking to me? Reflections on my why

Welcome to my weekly LinkedIn newsletter! Connected Fundraising Weekly will be my way of providing easy-to-engage insights around donor behavior, fundraiser enablement, and technology. I hope you enjoy the content, and please share if you think someone would benefit from what I'm writing!

Someone asked me this week who my audience for this newsletter is. In reflection, it was a much broader question relating to work that we're doing around marketing and communications for the company, but I actually have reflected more philosophically on it since asked.

This is coupled with two posts just this week that made me step back and truly ask the audience for the newsletter when I'm sitting down and writing out my thoughts (or anywhere for that matter).

• Chantal Forster's post about The Great Resignation hitting #philanthropytech
• Tim Lockie's post about the blockers to digital transformation

These appear to be big questions that everyone is talking about, but we're all talking across each other in many ways. The trick is the alignment of that agenda with the pain points that people are actually feeling.

So that again begs the question posed to me - who is the audience?

I'm speaking to fundraisers

When I write, I write to people who raise money for nonprofits as their job. These are folks who are trying to engage individual donors through things like appeals, events, planned giving programs, online and offline fundraising opportunities, and the like.

I'm speaking to under-resourced fundraisers

When I write, I write to people who not only are fundraising but may also be wearing a few other hats. When I see labor reports that say that the average salary for a fundraiser is $59,610 / year (or higher when we look at other research ), I also want to understand if that's taking into account roles that may be bundling together a few different positions or focus areas like grants, events, and marketing.

And if the organization is doing a good job compensating their staff, are they also doing a good job investing in the resources necessary to help them succeed? Have they enabled them with good benefits, professional development, and other vital assets needed to succeed?

I hear from many members of our Connected Fundraising Community that they feel underappreciated in their work. I want to not only speak to them but hear them and let them speak for themselves (e.g. more interviews!!!)

I'm speaking to under-resourced fundraisers who struggle with technology

When I write, I write to people who also may not be fully comfortable with technology. We're hearing more about the term "digital native" and that will streamline things in the future, but as outlined by some of the research by NTEN in 2021 , there are a lot of organizations that are juggling multiple databases that do not integrate. The below chart is specific to operational needs but I know from internal research as well as working with hundreds of nonprofits that the fundraising staff struggle with the very same thing. I know I experienced it in my nonprofit jobs.

Public Accountability / Goal Setting

I also want to outline some goals for the newsletter itself, since I'm getting into the swing of its role in my primary focus at work.

1. I want to help educate folks on the ways that nonprofit technology can make their lives easier and help them connect with their donors better
2. I want to do it in a way that focuses on data or functionality within fundraising technology (e.g. CRM) that is overlooked or taken for granted
3. I want to help build community. Unlike our blog or research papers or webinars, I am trying to approach this with a little less formality and create a dialogue. Being able to hear from folks through LinkedIn or listen to our Connected Fundraising Community of users is a delight and some of the best ideas are just coming to me the day I write them (like this one?)
4. I want to help test out the best content that we can use for Neon One. I can be extremely annoying in coming up with seemingly random or disconnected / underbaked projects and this is a way I can focus on building some metrics of support for the content that will best help our overall audience.

I'm doing a fair amount of soul searching as I turn 40 next week. I'm learning so much in my new role and the biggest piece that I'm realizing is that the best fundraisers are the ones that know how to tell an amazing story. Technology, data, and metrics are accelerants but without focusing on the humanity of the cause, that will get lost.

When I was working at nonprofits before joining the company where I'm at now, I wish I had better resources and insights, and guidance on how to use the technology I was handed. It isn't just about knowing how to enter a donation, it is also the WHY of entering that donation that matters.

So maybe I'm ultimately writing for myself.

I'll be taking a week off to celebrate my birthday, so no newsletter on April 20. I'll be doing my typical birthday fundraiser so stay tuned to hear whom I choose to support but spoiler - it will be a Neon One client based in Boston, MA.