Is It The Money?

It’s an old truism that development is more than just fundraising.

In other words, you’re only doing part of the job if you’re laser-focused on the funds you’re going after.

Not that bringing in funds isn’t important – we won’t be here (tomorrow) if we don’t bring in funds (today).

But there’s more to life in the fundraising lane than chasing after immediate dollars.

Because there’s more to raising funds than raising cash.

Anyone who’s been in fundraising for awhile knows the importance of tending to relationships, expanding organizational visibility, and building the backbone of a cadre of askers. Among other big-picture agenda items.

But the $64,000 question is: how do you allocate your time, in an era of dwindling resources, to make sure you’re tending the roots of the garden?

And even more profound: how do you allocate the time of your advocates – your board, volunteers, committee members – to make sure the garden’s going to flourish a Spring or two away?

Relevant questions, in the (hopefully) waning days of winter 2011…

Fixing the Board

We’re getting a lot of calls these days to “fix the board.”

Mostly these calls are coming from staff, but sometimes it’s a frustrated new board leader on the phone.

Rarely is it the rank-and-file who’re the subject of the needed fix.

What’s my point?

That it’s about consensual governance.

That we’re not paid enough, any of us, to govern through hierarchy and strife – and that we need to create a climate that celebrates and encourages the best interests of the cause.

While the economy may be “rebounding” in some sectors, in many others, including our own, times are just as stressful as they’ve ever been. Board members are holding on tight, just as we are. Starting from a position that the board has been “lazy” or “uncooperative” or “unwilling” doesn’t call up the desired behavior, nor does it provide the stick that so many are hoping it will. People move towards light, because they see the reason why and they see the path how.

Someone once compared board-staff relations to a marriage, and here’s where I’m going to show my bias. The point is to get along and move closer to the goal – not to be right.

Get the garbage on the curb. Get the money in the door. Same idea…cooperating to create a path that works.

The Observer Effect and the Glass Half Full

I’ve been thinking about how people modify their behavior, and how organizations can move towards a climate of higher board fundraising function.

In the sciences, when subjects alter their behavior because a researcher is watching, that’s called an observer effect. It means that if the subject knows you are there, you never know if what you are measuring is their true reaction, because people (and other sentient beings) try to please. The very act of watching changes the action. Hence the growth of double-blind studies, and other ways to obfuscate the focus of the observation.

But enough of physics and psychology; how does this work in fundraising?

People rise to the expectations we have of them (if they can). They want to please.

In fundraising, putting the behavioral sciences to work means taking tasks out of hidden space and into public space, where others can observe…and appreciate. Out of people’s bedrooms (“Please take a bunch of invites to send out”) and into the board rooms (“Let’s make a date together to meet with Joe”).

It’s one of the differences between giving board members five phone calls to make on their own…or having them participate in peer-based phone-a-thons. And it’s at the essence of why committee meetings are so effective – they provide a space for board members report on progress, and to know that others are watching as they do so.

Would they have done the same thing if no-one could see? Maybe yes, but often not.

This is why bringing in a consultant is often so effective – or one of the reasons why. People simply behave better when they’re watched – they grow into their doppelganger, their better-self alter ego.

But now, let’s combine this with the “glass half full” effect on human motivation: that when we think the glass is half full, we feel buoyed, readier to buckle down and go the final mile. “We’re half-way there!” we think – instead of “Look how far we still have to go.” The message is: “We can do this, we’ve already done it, it might be hard but we’re capable of it and look at the rewards.”

These concepts can work together to establish a climate where board members are successful at fundraising, and share their success, which motivates them (and others) to be even more successful, and so on.

And sometimes it’s up to the staff to find and name that success; it doesn’t always come naturally when board members are in the middle of it. People tend to focus on how far they have to go…instead of celebrating their progress to date. Recognizing board members for little steps taken, in front of their peers – helps them, and their peers, up the mountain.

I think that’s our job in managing our boards – in fundraising and in other areas as well. To remind them of their successes, indeed to name that success, in order to build the confidence – and the courage – to reproduce and build on it.

Watch the success, name the success, encourage the success…

The Value of Snow Days

There was a lot of groaning in my household this morning, at the decision to keep the NYC public schools open.  And while I pushed my kids through their disappointment and out the door, I realized that I, too, was a little chagrinned.  I was looking forward to having a day to catch up, reassess, and think strategically.

Maybe, I thought in the shower, this is a sign that I need to build in some reflection time.

I know one nonprofit that does Thank You Thursdays.  And another that does Friendraising Fridays.  Without carrying the alliteration too far, maybe, to be successful fundraisers, we need to build in a Strategic Snow Day – oh, about once a quarter. 

What might we do on a Strategic Snow Day?

Reconsider friendraising lists and think about who’s grown closer who could now be asked to become an asker…examine key written materials and decide which ones need freshening up…analyze appeal returns to pinpoint minor shifts which could portend potential major donor interest…et al. 

There are so many ways in which we get into the rut of “the usual,” as we try to carry out a development function in which the tasks – and the need – are overwhelming and never-ending.  Assumptions that we made a year ago – or several years ago – may no longer hold, and not just in a negative sense:  it may be that someone’s exhibiting increased interest and we’re not picking up on it because we’re not paying attention.

Strategic Snow Days.  A chance to pay attention out of the ordinary – to pick up a piece of the puzzle and turn it over to see if it might now fit in a different way.