Effective Fundraising. F. Warren McFarlan
a beggar, but rather that of an educator of donors and an expander of horizons about how they can personally impact organizations they care about through their philanthropy. You are providing a service to them—a very valuable one. You are opening up new doors and possibilities both for the donors and for the organization. For the donor, you are introducing them to new ways to contribute to society and enabling them to feel better about themselves. You are bringing enrichment and context into their lives. For the organization, you are providing access to new resources that will enable it to enhance its overall impact. Through all of this, you, as a fundraiser, are transforming the donor organizational relationship from a transactional one to a relational one, which hopefully will endure, reshaping itself appropriately over time. When that happens, scope grows, and hitherto unimaginable philanthropic possibilities become possible. Examples of this will be described throughout the book.
Book Organization
The rest of the book is organized as follows. Chapter 2 deals with governance. Everything related to successful philanthropy flows from governance. Good governance begins with acquiring a CEO with the right interest and skill set for the task ahead. It then involves recruiting the right kind of trustees and solicitors for both donation and connector purposes. This sets the framework for the development department including its staffing structure and size. Chapter 3 focuses on the roles, skills, and challenges of the key people associated with leading and shaping development activities. In short, it is the collective effort of the board chair, the CEO, the head of the development committee, and head of the governance committee and so forth, which spells success. The next three chapters deal with the major sources of philanthropic funds. Chapter 4 covers the annual fund and all the activities associated with the regular raising of funds throughout the year, year after year. Chapter 5 focuses on the special issues involved with capital campaigns. Done at irregular intervals, they often last years, because they secure resources for long-term institution building, including endowed positions, buildings, new educational initiatives, and so forth. Every process and approach is different for the annual fund than for the capital campaign except for the often large overlap in the donor space. Chapter 6 deals with planned gifts and the special estate planning tools to assist effective end-of-life giving. A volunteer often introduces the topic of planned giving to a donor in general terms. Specialists, however, usually make the close, because these gifts are complex with numerous technical issues that must be appropriately and individually resolved, depending on the situation. Chapter 6 also deals with the important role played by foundations in meeting development needs. Chapter 7 focuses on the many events run for development purposes and the things that must be done to make sure the climate is right for fundraising. Tastefully appropriate in tone and well-choreographed events are essential to creating the right climate for effective fundraising. Chapter 8 covers the information system's revolution and how every aspect of development except for the ask has been transformed by the combination of low-cost, large-bandwidth networks, handheld devices like the iPad and iPhone, social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and so on. Chapter 9 focuses on the special challenges that the micro social enterprise (revenues below $1 million and often no paid staff) faces. Hundreds of thousands of these base of the social enterprise organizations exist across the country. They are important and face unique challenges. Finally, Chapter 10 focuses on how an individual can improve their fundraising skills. It is the author's contention that with proper training, it is easy for you to become good in this arena and your newly acquired skills will give you great satisfaction.
Two roles will repeatedly surface in the book—namely, that of the solicitor and that of the connector. Exhibits 1.1 and 1.2 highlight some of the characteristics that the best of these individuals contain. A question for you as you read this book is which one best describes you and how can you improve your skills.
Exhibit 1.1: The Solicitor
1 Understands the organization's issues and needs
2 Has made the pledge
3 Has internalized a three-minute elevator pitch
4 Tries to understand prospective donor's mindset
5 Comes with an evangelist's mindset
6 Builds in listening time
7 Is often a builder of an enduring institutional relationship (each visit is one of a series of contacts)
8 Leaves a written record of call points to shape future calls
Exhibit 1.2: The Connector
Understands the organization's issues and needs
Has made the pledge (size irrelevant)
Knows or has access to many potential donors (individuals and foundations)
Is willing to share contacts
Has done substantial solicitation in the past (probably for other organizations)
Has experience in other development organizations
Has no obvious current conflicts of interest
Notes
1 1 Stephen A. Schwarzman, What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence (Simon & Schuster, 2019).
2 2 F. Warren McFarlan and Marc J. Epstein, Joining a Nonprofit Board: What You Need to Know (John Wiley & Sons, 2011), p. 1, Preface.
2 Governance
ODDLY ENOUGH, the right place to begin the discussion of fundraising is with the governance committee of the organization's board of trustees (see Figure 2.1). At the core, this group is responsible for assembling and developing the fundraising talent and leadership on the board, and setting the tone for development. These trustees must facilitate the assembly of a core network of givers and connectors, and ensure the right level of staff is present in the organization. In times of a head change, the governance committee works very closely with the search committee to assess how important fundraising skills will be in the next head, and to ensure that the final candidate possesses them. As noted earlier, it is not unusual for 50% or more of a nonprofit CEO's time to be devoted to fundraising activities over their years of leadership (clearly, therefore, this is usually a very relevant skill requirement).
Governance Committee Composition