Embracing the 95%

Seriously, it’s time to stop telling board members they need to fundraise.  It’s not working.  We need to take a different approach.

Over the years, I’ve talked to thousands of people considering joining nonprofit boards, as well as current board members.  We talk about their roles and responsibilities.  Naturally, audience members vary in their level of engagement, from the enthralled to the weary.  Most are engaged:  taking notes, responding with nods and glances, asking questions, comfortable.  That is until I mention the word “fundraising.”  More often than not, there is a palpable change in the tenor of the room with mention of that one word.  Body language shifts inward; eye contact ceases, at least with me (though the floor, the table and/or the lap get a lot of attention).  The message clear.

Suddenly the vast majority of people in the room seek to become invisible.  No surprise, then, that board chairs and executive directors are struggling to figure out how to get their boards engaged in fundraising.  I know, as I get begged all of the time:  please, please, please; help get the board to understand its fundraising role and, then, to do it.

In the 2015 Leading with Intent:  A National Index of Nonprofit Board Practices, only 5% of executive directors and board chairs gave their boards an A when it came to fulfilling their fundraising responsibilities, while 65% gave them a C or below.  And the number one board responsibility that needs strengthening, according to the same study?  Yes, fundraising, cited as such by 58% of board chairs and 60% of executive directors.  Lagging almost 20 percentage points behind was engaging more in outreach and acting as the ambassador they are supposed to be.

As we all know, the real definition of crazy is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results.  So, just maybe, when it comes to fundraising, we need to stop doing the same thing and try something different?  What would that be?  Change the message!  We need to start pushing that other thing that boards apparently aren’t doing so well (as noted, above):  their role as ambassador.  To be fair, it isn’t entirely board members’ fault that they aren’t being good ambassadors, as too few even know this is part of their job description.  This function, ironically, takes a far back seat to hitting hard on fundraising—to everyone’s detriment.  Paradoxically, if we were to help board members become better ambassadors, a behavior that rarely spawns discomfort, we would, in short time and with ease, have created great fundraisers, without ever having mentioned that heart-stopping word.

Fundraising, as we all know, is about starting and sustaining relationships.  Ambassadors, if we want to get technical, are diplomatic representatives of one country who build, mend, and sustain relationships with others of importance to their home country and bring vital information back to that home country so that, among other things, those relationships can be better understood and strengthened.  But ambassadors bring more than just information back home; they bring resources and new relationships, as well.  And the best part?  People actually want to be ambassadors.

The ease of the transformation from ambassador to fundraiser is as unnoticeable as a seam sewn by a superb tailor.  One day a person is talking about the organization and sharing what they like about the organization, and the next day they are bringing gifts home to the organization.   Okay, maybe not that seamless!  But if we can get board members to relax into their job as ambassador—which is an easy thing to do—we can later point out that they have been fundraisers without knowing it.

The vast majority of people misconstrue fundraising; they think it is all about asking for money, all of the time.   The reality is that fundraising is 95% cultivation and only 5% asking for money.  For decades, board members have been hammered with the uncomfortable 5% of the job; it is now time to stop the craziness and get them to embrace the 95%.  No more telling board members they must fundraise; wipe that word from your vocabulary.  Let’s just talk about being effective ambassadors.