A few weeks ago, I wrote about challenges facing development departments when an organization does not embrace their work or overall fundraising. This is when a majority people in the organization are not in involved in any level of fundraising because they don’t understand the power of philanthropy and or view fundraising as something daunting and unpleasant. When an organization accepts, understands, and embraces a culture of philanthropy the ability of the development department to engage more donors in better ways increases significantly, and the whole institution benefits from increased donor investment.
I mentioned five steps on the path to breaking down silos and creating bridges for your colleagues to cross into the realm of philanthropy and embrace fundraising. Here are the five as a refresher.
This is looking at fundraising in a donor-centric way, through the lens of impact and outcomes created, and the joyful experience of giving. Highlighting philanthropy regarding dollars raised, donor participation, or purely numeric is important. However, your fellow colleagues, development, and non-development, might be more inspired to hear the direct impact of donors’ gifts from your great work.
As you probably know, the impact and outcomes are often best told through a story. These stories are often woven throughout an organization, on the website, in marketing materials, and in presentations. However, lost when conveyed internally through fundraising when the hard numbers take over — the amount of money raised, the number of donors, and the biggest gifts.
These are just some of the way in which you can talk about philanthropy with your organization, and I invite you to comment on other ideas that you feel would be effective.
No matter what steps you would like to take in building a culture of philanthropy just keep in mind to make it entertaining, inspiring and heartfelt. It’s a special moment when others start to understand the power of philanthropy. It will also make fundraising at your organization a lot more productive and enjoyable.