The Leaky Bucket Nonprofit Blog

"You've got to help us out," they said, "we really need you!"  And so, with the ink still wet on my incorporation documents, I agreed to conduct my very first fundraising retreat for the board of The Commodores, not their real name.  I even drafted my friend Rebecca, with her PhD in organizational psychology, to share the project with me! We expected to enlighten these folks, dazzle them with our brilliance, and then give them fundraising strategies that would reinvigorate them and give them a brilliant future.

Quick, boys and girls!! What's the least understood function in the nonprofit world?  One, two, three - it's fundraising!  Dan Pallotta calls it "the black sheep of the fundraising sector."  Nonprofits brag about how little they spend on it. Executive directors complain about it (or at least their lack of results).  And boards of directors make demands and expect miracles from the fundraising department, always with the best of intentions, but not necessarily with awareness of costs or other constraints.

Let’s talk about entrepreneurship for a minute.  Nonprofits are a lot like those new-business ventures that get money from investors.  Your fundraising practices have to attract the right charitable investors (donors), just like some entrepreneurs have to find the right investors.  In both cases, the "investors" should understand what you're trying to accomplish, and that your "solutions" are going to have a positive impact in the market.  The for-profit ventures have to answer to their investors, just like your nonprofit has to answer to its donors.  Neither type of business can thrive unless it has the right financial backing, but with it, both will do a better job delivering on their promise.  And in both case the “investors” want to see the business in question make a difference.

There's often a lot of talk about metrics in the fundraising world.  Yet, why is it that I work with so many nonprofit professionals who don't get metrics, don't use 'em much, choose metrics that are weak at guiding performance, or seem to fear using metrics at all? Maybe people think that the use of metrics will slow down their development efforts, or make it harder for the team to perform.  When metrics actually give power to the team - at least if you define them right! Repeat after me: the right fundraising metrics lead to the right fundraising results.

When you're fundraising, are you in charge or is your prospect?  It might surprise you to know that lots of people who raise money (or are supposed to, anyway) are crippled by "Ask Reluctance." And one reason is that they let their prospective funders be in charge of the process. 

Quick, the fundraising year's half over!  Well, not really, but before things get too crazy again for you professional fundraisers out there, think about adopting sustainable fund development practices.  If you do your fund developmet planning early, everything else falls into place.

I just had a great conversation with two people who, like me, have been thinking about the Art-vs.-Science debate that's been going on in fundraising circles for a while now.  One  is Linda Lysakowski, a multi-published fundraising author and expert in the field.  The other is Cathy Williams, who's chairing the Fundraising Effectiveness Project for AFP (the Association of Fundraising Professionals).  It was really reassuring to hear from these experts that there is a growing awareness of the need for science in the fundraising field, and a growing hunger for "scientific" resources that help nonprofits achieve great results through fundraising.

What's the best way to get your nonprofit's board of directors involved in fundraising?  I think there are really about five different levels of involvement that any nonprofit board should adopt, systematically and gradually.  But unfortunately, as soon as you start to hear "get the board more involved,"  the next thing you hear is "force the board to adopt a give or get policy.  Or else!"

Hey, do you know where you put your Case Statement?  Maybe you call it your Case for Support.  Maybe I should ask, do you HAVE a Case Statement?  Well, we've been studying this very subject in our Leaky Bucket Study for Effective Fundraising.  And the answer we're getting is kind of depressing.  So far, only about 16% of those surveyed told us that they have an up-to-date Case Statement.  And lots of those giving that answer were large, well-established agencies! 

Where does your fundraising spring a leak?  You might be surprised to discover that there are a lot of "leaky buckets" out there in the nonprofit world.  Join me on August 18, at the Nonprofit Marketing Summit of FDMA (Florida Direct Marketing Association), where I'm the keynote presenter.  I'll share up-to-the-minute results on our study of effective fundraising practices, The Leaky Bucket Survey for Effective Fundraising.  The Leaky Bucket measures the level of maturity of nine critical business practices that either contribute to or detract from the effectiveness of any fundraising organization. If you haven't taken yours yet, there's still time to get your data included before the 18th!  Click here to start your assessment.