It happened again the other day. Except this time from a dear friend. He happens to be the Founder and Executive Director (I’ll call him Ed, in order to be able to use a name, easily read it as Executive Director, and maintain anonymity) of a not-for-profit that he started about 7-8 years ago. He does incredible work, so great that I’m frustrated that he has not grown faster so he can have an impact on more people. The world needs him to grow! I could not love him more as a person nor the work he does.
I’ve never offically consulted with Ed on the growth of his organization though we talked quite a bit about funding as he was launching the organzation. Years later he finally hired a full time professional development person to help him raise funds. He could not have done a worse job!
Like so many other Execs of small not-for-profits, he succumbed to the fantasy that someone else could bring him the donors he needed. He would hire someone who could easily reach people that were not on his radar. What could be better than hiring someone who brought his own rolodex! Someone who had raised funds for another organization and came with a long list of donors with whom he had previously worked! No matter that the previous employer was only peripherally related to the work the organization does. This should work out great! The Development guy was to bring his own contacts, develop his own donors, and bring the organization new funds! This was going to be easy.
Or so he thought. Six months later the Development Director has broght in very little money and has not changed the culture of the board or the organization in any way (not his job/assignment). I still hope he succeeds in raising funds, but I know the odds of that happening are pretty slim. The whole enterprise (of fundraising in this way) is doomed to fail because the premise it is built on is a fallacy.
There is no professional who is going to work for you, bring his own donors, and fill your coffers without you doing any work or making changes to the way you are operating. You do not go from being a $500,000 per year organization to a $1M per year fundraising organization without work, without growth, and without change.
If, like Ed, your organization has not grown much in the past 5 years, then you need to have a conversation with your board of directors about why that is. Why aren’t they doing their job? (But try not to be that blunt.) Or engage a consultant to help you ahve that conversation.
The way you grow an organization is to hire and train leadership who are willing to do the work to help you grow. That means that your board understands that fundraising is their responsibilty and that the responsibility of the Exec and the Development Director are to work with the Board to identify new donors from their contacts! Your Board are the ones with the realtionships with potential donors, not your professionals.
Think of this for a second. If a development person is bringing his own contacts that we developed at another not-for-profit, what do you think he is going to do with your donors when he leaves your organization? But I digress.
Fundraising has to be one of the fundamental responsibilities of the board of a not-for-profit. Every board needs the diversity of the 3 W’s. “Work, Wealth, and Wisdom.” Fundraising is at the heart of the first two. Another cruder way of explaing a standard for board members is, “Give, Get, or Get Out of the Way.”
Fantasies are fun, unless you are wasting money on them. So when you are ready to do the real work of growing your organization, start with your board, or start with a professional who can help you engage your board.