Why Aren’t There More Fundraisers & Marketers in the Top Job?

July 12th, 2010

As a fundraiser who had worked at director level for a number of years, the question ‘what should my next move be?’ would pop up from time to time in my head. The options were quite straightforward: deputy chief executive or chief executive; switching over to another director role at a larger charity; or going freelance as a consultant.

When considering the chief exec option, I’d always grind to a halt when trying to think of other fundraisers who’d trodden that path before me. The only high-profile fundraiser- turned-chief exec I knew of at the time was the late Gill Astarita. Other senior, female fundraisers I respected had expressed an interest in the chief exec role but had never made it.

In the end, I opted for the consultancy route. Two years on, I find myself as the new executive director of Rosa, the first UK-wide Fund for women and girls. And, although I’m there myself, I’m still asking the question: why aren’t there more fundraisers and marketers in the chief exec role?

I took the question to peers, friends and, naturally, to Twitter. Some answered that there aren’t enough senior fundraisers putting themselves forward for the CEO role. One suggested this may not be happening because having to deal with politics at the top often ruins good marketers and fundraisers. We much prefer to concentrate on ideas, targets and the bottom line after all. But despite our obsession with achieving targets, one suggestion was that we don’t do a good enough job of convincing boards of the worth and impact of our results and so a finance director, for example, will  be more likely to get the top job than  a fundraising or marketing director.

In this current risk-averse climate, this is certainly more likely to be true. If there aren’t many precedents of fundraisers and marketers successfully moving into chief exec roles, then boards are less likely to want to take the risk. And if fundraisers ever do make it to the top, it’s often those from a corporate fundraising or major donor background who do, as opposed to the (more modest?) direct marketers.

The main issue lies in how fundraising and marketing continue to be perceived in many organisations. Like it or not, they are still often regarded as necessary evils and the poorer relations of service provision. To me, both the challenges and opportunities of being a fundraiser/marketer-turned-chief exec stem from the same issue above. One of the challenges for a target-oriented fundraiser-turned-chief exec is in leading diverse elements of an organisation which may not be used to working so strictly to the deadlines and KPIs that are part  and parcel of a fundraiser’s routine. At the same time, having to think about the organisation as a whole can be all-consuming, leaving little time to focus on the fundraising and marketing activity that energises us.

That said, the opportunities for a fundraiser or marketer are truly attractive. The basic tenets that we abide by for good supporter and donor care will deliver equal and valuable benefits to our beneficiaries as well. The board of an organisation will only appoint a fundraiser chief exec when they perceive a real need for fundraising and marketing to drive their organisation forward.

Perhaps it’s the smaller and more entrepreneurial organisations that are ready and willing to take  the ‘risk’ of appointing a fundraiser or marketer to chief executive. Again, because the need is there. And so we come back full circle.

It’s down to every one of us to continue championing the real value of fundraising and marketing and to continue setting those precedents. And as for the top job, it’s not as daunting as it sounds – but ask me again in a year or two.

Originally written for Civil Society Fundraising May Issue.

Many thanks to @kevbaughen, @gillmcl, @laurie_pringle and @rachelbeer for their contributions via Twitter


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A Cynical Fundraiser’s Aha Moment

May 17th, 2010

So we’ve ushered in a period of change. For some of us it’s welcome, for many of us it’s not. Still, the hunger for change that’s been in the air for a while got me thinking about our own sector and how changes in the way we fundraise are long overdue. Yes, we’re constantly developing new ideas and campaigns but how many of them are simply variations on a theme?

As a fundraiser and donor who’s been round the block for quite some time, the urge to find new ways of engaging is often at the back of my mind. Now that I’m at Rosa, the Women’s Fund, it’s even more prominent and pressing as I explore ways of effectively engaging with women donors and philanthropists.

It was while looking at how other organisations and grant-givers engaged with donors that I had one of those rare aha moments recently. Maggie Baxter, Rosa’s inspiring founder and Chair, had long ago encouraged me to find out more about Community Foundations. I have to admit that it took me some time to get round to my research but when I did, it near revolutionised the way I viewed the processes of both engaging and donating. Forgive me if this is old hat to many of you (especially those of you over the Atlantic) but I do classify myself as a late developer here! If you do want to learn more about Community Foundations you can do so here.

To me, as a fundraiser and donor, Community Foundations make so much sense: donors choose how engaged they want to be, they learn more about the issues in their community and the local organisations and groups tackling them (visits to them are often organised) and they’re able to make a difference by donating money and also time. If they feel so inclined, donors can even attend workshops on effective philanthropy.

The fundraiser in me liked the Community Foundation model because it addressed the need, so often cited by donors, to focus their giving more locally on grassroots projects whereas the donor in me loved the idea of being able to do more than just write a cheque or fill in a DD form.

The question for us all is how we can make this attractive level of engagement and in effect, personalisation, work to our advantage. I’ll be tackling this question in the months to come so watch this space to find out how I get on!

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When is a “Fundraising Prop” Just a Prop?

February 15th, 2010

I’ve worked for a number of small charities on limited budgets where, as a senior fundraiser, I’m often expected to make the most out of very little. Which is why I’ve often been bemused when a Chief Exec or Trustee/Development Board member will insist on the fundraising team producing an all singing, all dancing Case for Support or “fundraising leaflet”.

As a “purist”, or some would say tight old fundraiser, I’ve never been a great believer in what I call fundraising props. After all, I come from the old school, a one time defector from the commercial sector who was lucky enough to benefit from a course or two on consultative selling. Selling in those days was all about building relationships and trust to the point that the salesperson is seen more as a ‘consultant’ than a used car salesman. In those days (and I’d imagine it’s still true now), we were trained to know our product or service inside out, know our prospect’s business inside out and be adept at dealing with any objections, cynicism or price queries. In those days, we may just have been able to use a short powerpoint presentation as a prop but first and foremost we relied on ourselves – our knowledge, our expertise, our negotiation skills and our ability to build rapport and trust – to clench that deal.

So this is why I’m such a cynic when I’m asked to put together a fundraising “prop” because, rightly or wrongly, I still firmly believe it’s down to the fundraiser to inform, engage, nurture, reassure and secure. Yes, it’s important for a fundraiser to develop a strong case for support but how important is it for that said case to be presented as a nice, glossy (and expensive) brochure? I once put together a four to five page long case for support in Word, which I then had to distil down to one page so that my Chair could email it to a time-poor high net worth prospect. No frills, no gloss, no pictures even. The result? A donation of £250,000 which covered my development budget for that year.

The next time a Chief Exec, Trustee, Development Board member (or fellow fundraiser even) asks for a fundraising “prop” perhaps it’s worth asking yourself whether what they really need is a little bit more confidence in making the ask or selling your cause. I often find when I’m dead certain about what I’m selling and I’m convinced about the true benefit/difference we’re making, my passion and enthusiasm talks for itself and can convince and move mountains. Or maybe I’m just a tight old fundraiser who’d rather spend her budget on other more important stuff.

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The Beauty of Starting at Zero

November 23rd, 2009

The reason why I’ve been very quiet on the blogging front is because I recently started a new interim assignment at Rosa UK. Rosa was launched eighteen months ago and is the first UK-wide Fund for women and girls. It launched with seed funding from trusts and individuals and I was brought in to generate more income to develop and sustain the Fund as well as build its grant-giving capacity.

I knew from the on-set that this would not be your run of the mill fundraising assignment and that was specifically why I took it on. Joining a young organisation means that I have a clean slate to develop not only a fundraising strategy but also a marketing and communications one which in turn will shape the future of the organisation itself. Hence the sheer beauty of starting at zero.

Yet I am acutely aware that there are many fundraisers out there who would find “zero” a daunting concept. A couple of years ago, when I was working at a small children’s charity launching their first major donor programme and recruiting a major donor manager, I was bemused to hear that a number of people turned the opportunity down because they wanted to work on an established income stream. Where’s the fun and challenge in that, I asked? And I do wonder whether this is yet another symptom of an all too common trend of complacency in fundraising (see my earlier post on this subject). Now I’m not saying that our job is easy, but I do think there are times when we may be tempted to take the easy, road well-travelled route rather than challenge or stretch ourselves that little bit more.

So let me just touch on some of the joys of starting at zero which in my case means being the sole fundraiser and marcomms person on staff.

Starting at zero means:

  • That every communication, system and process we develop can be truly donor-centred from the start.
  • That the Board of Trustees understands the importance of fundraising and embraces the need to be donor-centred in everything we do
  • That the Board of Trustees understands and accepts the role it has to play in some income streams such as major donor fundraising
  • That every donation that comes through the door, no matter how big or small, is truly appreciated
  • That every donor relationship is personalised as much as possible

I was poignantly reminded of the fourth point a month ago when, quite new to the job, I personally had to go to the bank to deposit a total of £25,000 into Rosa’s account. Never in my long career as a fundraiser have I personally had to go and bank a donation but I’m really glad I got the chance to do so. For as I walked to the bank with those cheques in tow I felt a great buzz as I truly connected with why it is that I do what I do. And all this because I’ve been given the wonderful chance to start from zero. Believe me, it’s a great (and often humbling) place to be as a fundraiser.

Posted in Fundraising General | 2 Comments »

Beware donor hierarchies & “apathy fundraising”

September 7th, 2009

A couple of things got me thinking last week. First there were my musings around “donor hierarchies” and then there was the great post by Bluefrog Creative’s @AlineReed where she coined the very apt phrase “apathy fundraising”.

So what do I mean by “donor hierarchies?” Well, I mean the process by which we tend to rank donors and the level at which we engage with them so that a cash donor may get limited, ‘standard’ communications via appeals and possible upgrade requests while a major donor will get VIP treatment, regular, tailored communications and unlimited access to the CEO and/or Chairman.

Some people may not see anything wrong with this approach – you get what you pay for after all. But I can’t help harking back to my earlier post, that we need to treat donors as individuals not donor numbers and certainly not as common denominators in a donor development process.

Why, for example, shouldn’t a running event participant be considered a major donor? Well, because he or she will only raise at most a couple of thousand pounds whereas a major donor will donate £50,000+ I hear you say.

But then, you see, this is where I think it’s important for every fundraiser to be a donor themselves and even better if they can donate through more than one medium (apart from major giving, unless they’ve won millions on the lottery). The reason I say this is because the question about charity runners came to me as I was running around Greenwich Park clocking up miles for my next half marathon.

Yes, a lot of us are probably only going to raise a couple of thousand compared to the five and six figure sums that other people and organisations donate, but how do you begin to put a value against the hours of training most charity runners put in, not to mention those unfortunate times when we may be blighted by injury?

Granted, many of us may not end up entering marathons but it takes just as much determination for a woman who’s only ever done five minutes or so on the treadmill to train for her first Adidas Women’s Challenge as it does for a more seasoned runner to take the plunge and go for the marathon. And what about the guy who’s decided to sky-dive for his favourite charity? What price for him to conquer his fear of heights?

Many donors may not appear to donate that much but in most cases, there’s certainly been an amount of thought or effort behind the donation and that’s the bit we as fundraisers sometimes forget through our obsession with donor hierarchies and processes.

When I worked for a small children’s disability charity, I was pleasantly surprised by the effort we went to to acknowledge our marathon runners. We didn’t have that many runners to boast of but we still made the effort to hire a venue and hold a post marathon party for runners and their supporters. Not being a runner at the time, I don’t think I fully appreciated the true value of what we were doing – providing a great but simple way to say thank you as well as acknowledging all the time, effort and sometimes pain that went into supporting our cause. And everyone from the Chief Executive down to my small team of fundraisers was there to meet and greet the runners.

Contrast that with a larger organisation I heard of who never organise anything for their runners because “we don’t have that many of them anyway.”

To me, it’s interesting to see that in some cases, the bigger an organisation gets, the more “apathy fundraising” and the hierarchy of donors begins to set in. It’s a bit like a family business losing its personal touch once it goes public. And who is it that suffers as a result? The donors and customers of course, not to mention the organisations themselves through loss of donor and customer loyalty.

Posted in Direct Marketing, Events, Fundraising General | No Comments »

Treat me like an individual not a donor number!

August 13th, 2009

About a month ago, I did the unthinkable. I phoned a charity that I have supported on a regular basis for a good couple of years now and cancelled my direct debit. I say I did the unthinkable because, as a fundraiser, I know how difficult it is to recruit and retain donors especially in the midst of a recession. I say I did the unthinkable because I made a conscious decision to stop my support despite still believing in what the organisation is trying to achieve. This decision was not prompted by any need to consolidate and economise on my part; this decision was made because I was fed up of being treated like just another donor number on a database.

So what do I mean by this? Well, I mean lack of engagement. I mean receiving standard communications on a regular basis that I often don’t bother to read because a) I don’t have the time and b) they don’t really hook me in. I mean feeling dissatisfied with the level of donor care (or lack of it) that I’d been receiving only to then be sent an upgrade letter through the post. Result? The donor upgrade letter had the opposite and quite final effect of prompting me to pick up the phone and cancel my direct debit. ‘Result’ indeed. And let’s not mention the own goal of taking just over two and a half weeks to reply to my constructive feedback with a standard email that said a lot but not a lot, if you know what I mean.

Contrast this with a wonderful donor experience I had earlier this year. I support this particular charity on a one-off basis responding to appeals here and there. Being the cynical fundraiser that I am, when I received a pack from them through the post, I didn’t open it for a good few days suspecting it was just another ask. When I finally opened the pack, I experienced a (rare) charity DM wow factor. Far from being yet another ask, this pack was a lovely thank you for my support over the years. It was signed by CEO Jasmine Whitbread (now you know which charity I’m talking about) and there were two beautiful, vibrant cards enclosed to celebrate the charity’s 90th anniversary. I repeat, this is a charity that I have supported on a one-off basis yet here I was being treated like a valued regular donor. How did that make me feel? Appreciated, acknowledged, special. It also made me consider supporting them on a regular basis. Bravo Save the Children!

These two contrasting experiences made me think back to my days in the commercial sector when we used to remind our clients and prospects time and time again about the importance of exceptional customer care. Exceeding customer expectations and treating each customer as an individual were persistent mantras. However old these mantras may sound (we were chanting them a good 14 to 15 years ago), they certainly need to be revived in the minds of every individual giving/supporter care team in every fundraising department in the land (and beyond).

I do feel many of us have become complacent and “automated” in the way we approach donor care and retention, even in the way we respond to constructive feedback. A lot of us have opted for a one size fits all donor care strategy and then wonder why attrition levels are so high. If we were to remind ourselves that we are dealing with people, not donor numbers, we might begin to relate to our donors better. If we simply stopped to ask ourselves: how would I like to be treated as well as remind ourselves that everyone has individual preferences, and that every one of us appreciates some acknowledgement from time to time, that alone would be a step in the right direction. It wouldn’t harm to invite a dialogue with our donors, to listen and to respond to them in a way that is relevant and meaningful to them.

And it certainly wouldn’t harm for us all to read or re-read Ken Burnett’s Relationship Fundraising or to learn from donor focused organisations and agencies who are placing the donor back at the centre of the equation where they belong.

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Fundraising in Times of Uncertainty

July 20th, 2009

There’s no doubt about it, fundraising in this day and age is a lot tougher than it was when I first started out. There are various reasons for this: “it’s the economy, stupid” being one of them of course, but I can also give an example where technology has hampered the work of fundraisers. Take cold calling, that business development activity that we either love or hate. Only five years ago, when I did my last full-on, 9 to 5, back-to-back stint of business development at a disability charity, it was still possible to work through a list of prospects and secure interest or even a meeting from a small handful. These days, you’re lucky if you speak to a real person as opposed to voicemail or get past the guardians on switchboard. And woe betide you if you end up phoning a large UK mobile phone company only to get lost in the quagmire of their automated response system.

As we all so painfully know, voicemail and over-zealous gate-keepers are just one of the many obstacles that make our jobs as fundraisers tougher. Our work, with all the ups and downs that successes and rejections bring, is challenging enough without the current drive for us to deliver so much more with fewer resources.

So how can we keep ourselves motivated and focused in these uncertain times?

My advice to fundraisers would be:

1. Stay Inspired

If things are looking a bit stuck around you, look elsewhere for inspiration. There’s nothing worse than the negative reinforcement of poor results or targets missed around you. The Showcase for Fundraising Innovation and Inspiration (www.sofii.org) is a great free resource for all fundraisers by fundraisers and is one of the places I go when I want to feel great again about this wonderful business of fundraising.

Staying on-line, check out all the great fundraising bloggers who generously share their ideas and thoughts: Queer Ideas, The Agitator, BlueFrog Creative, Conor’s Fundraising Blog, Derek Humphries, Kimberley MacKenzie and Parkeslife to name but a few. Or follow the wide range of fundraisers (most of the above included) who tweet on Twitter.

Use your existing networks too. Share thoughts and ideas with fellow fundraisers, ask them how they’re tackling a particular problem area and ask how they would deal with your particular situation. As I’ve mentioned in my previous post, a different perspective can often herald a different approach.

2. Apply what you’ve learnt

Once you’re fired up by what you’ve read or learnt, spend some time thinking about how you can apply these new ideas to your current situation – the new energy alone can spark up previously ignored alternatives.

3. Avoid focusing on what’s wrong…..

Focus on how you want things to be instead. If we get too preoccupied with the number of rejected bids we’ve sent or those ever-increasing attrition rates, or the number of times we’ve come up against voice-mail, guess what? Nine out of ten times we’ll only keep getting the same. Try to focus on the times when you were successful, remind yourself what that felt like and gear yourself up for more of that success. Yes, this may sound a bit new-agey but more often than not I’ve found that some of the best fundraisers are the ones that have the strength and resilience to motivate themselves.

And for what it’s worth, my advice to Directors/Heads of Fundraising would be:

Hold your nerve and stand your ground

When the going gets tough and those targets are looking more shaky, it’s easy to succumb to pressures for cost-cutting and savings. But think about it, less investment in donor recruitment of any type will inevitably lead to fewer new donors. This ‘saving’ may well look good in the short-term but what happens beyond that? What are you left to work with in future? Near to nothing. And so the vicious cycle continues.

The general consensus is to tweak some elements of your strategy and budget but avoid cutting recruitment and other engagement activities (including major donor prospect research) altogether. Your donors and prospects may be watching their cashflow at the moment but you certainly need to be ready (along with everyone else) when the tide turns. That is the message you need to drive home to all those colleagues and trustees who may be urging or forcing you to make those cuts.

The truth of the matter is, it is tough for all fundraisers out there but staying inspired, focusing on what we want to achieve and sticking to strategic (not short-term) decisions will help get us through these tough but not impossible times.

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A Question of Perspective

June 11th, 2009

Years ago when I was in the commercial sector I used to be quite sceptical of those sales training programmes that were based on NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). You know the type, the ones that claimed that if you stood in front of a mirror, smiled and repeated “I’m a great salesperson” ten times over you’d go to your desk, pick up the phone and make a whole stream of successful sales calls – even more if you did so with a big smile on your face.

When I joined the voluntary sector as a corporate fundraiser, I again attended an NLP style course, this time predominantly about building rapport but also about the power of positive thought. Once again, looks of “why are we on this really cheesy, salesy course” were exchanged.

About ten years later, and with countless cold calls – some successful and some complete howlers – under my belt, I’ve become more of a convert to the school of positive perspective.

It’s funny how many fundraisers I’ve come across over the years who say they prefer account management to new business development because they hate the thought of having to pick up the phone to ask for something (be it a meeting, gift in kind or, even worse, a donation).

While I do acknowledge that we all have our preferences as well as our strengths and weaknesses, I also believe that any good fundraiser can make that call and do it well. Our success is truly and simply a matter of perspective.

Tell me, for example, which approach you think will work best:

You arrive at work late having missed your train, you spill some coffee on your shirt, you curse to high heaven and even more because you’ve got a whole load of calls to make that you’ve been dreading. You sit at your desk, you pick up the phone, you think: I’m phoning Marketing Directors so a) their PAs will never put me through to them b) they won’t want to talk to me c) if they do talk to me, they’ll politely – or not so politely – tell me to go away.

OR:

You arrive at work late having missed your train, you make a joke of it as you head to your desk. You spill some coffee on your shirt and laugh at your clumsiness, you take a sip of the coffee that’s left and psyche yourself up for your calls. You sit at your desk and plan your call. You think it might be challenging getting through to these Marketing Directors but it’s early enough so you might catch them before meetings. You sketch out what you’re going to say and how you’re going to pitch it and you see yourself securing at least one meeting or follow-up email.

I’ve experienced the former and I’ve also been lucky to experience the latter too. The former perspective will almost always get me bad results and true howlers. The latter, at least one or two good calls and if I consider myself really lucky, an all important meeting or follow-up communication.

It is all a matter of positive perspective and in fundraising, where we’re often subjected to more rejections and setbacks than we are successes, I’d say it’s an essential quality for any good, resilient and successful fundraiser to have. So the next time you’re about to approach that call or meeting with dread, stop. Take a deep breath and switch to a different perspective.

Posted in Fundraising General | 4 Comments »