How to Train Your Grassroots Team on Fundraising

Effective fundraising is a process, and the majority of it isn’t asking. Rather, it’s educating others on your cause and developing relationships. The asking part is usually less than five seconds. If you can talk or write about your passion for your cause, then you have 99 percent of the job done.

Next, it’s important to realize that you bring something important to the table: action! Not everyone can take action. Don’t worry about why. They’re just not in the position to do what you do for the cause.

What you bring to them is the ability to act. What they bring is the money to help you act. In biology, there’s a word for this: symbiosis. A symbiotic relationship occurs when two organisms help each other for their mutual benefit. The problem is that most people confuse their fundraising as a parasitic relationship — a relationship where only one party benefits to the detriment of the other.

Fundraising is symbiotic. You bring donors the joy and satisfaction of seeing action taken on an important issue, as well as the opportunity to form social connections around your cause, and so much more.

Now, this next statement may be somewhat controversial, but it’s true: almost everyone can afford to give to your cause.

The problem comes from the meaning of the word “afford.” When someone says, “I can’t afford that,” the implication is that they don’t have the money for expenditure at hand. That could be true, but it’s rarely the case as often as we imagine. Yes, if you earn $25,000 per year and want to buy a $1 million home, you can’t afford it. Yet in the majority of circumstances, that’s not what people mean. When most people say, “I can’t afford that,” they’re saying, “I haven’t made that expenditure a priority.” Something else is more important than what you are suggesting they do.

How do we know that this is true? Because people with less means give more in proportion to their income than those with greater means. If the people who have the least manage to afford to give the most, then anyone can, if they believe in your cause.

Do they just give on their own? No. Most people don’t give because they’re not asked! It’s sad, but true. Only a very few, special people will give money to your cause without being asked. And if they do, it’s probably much less than they could contribute. Unfortunately, it’s contrary to human nature to see good work and simply reward it without additional prompting. Asking why you’re not rewarded with support for doing great things is a moot question. It won’t happen and waiting around for donors to come to you puts your cause at risk.

When fundraising, give everyone the dignity of being asked. Saying, “I won’t ask them because I know they can’t (or won’t) give,” is disrespectful. Treat donors like the adults they are! Let them decide for themselves. If you step back and reflect a bit, you’ll probably find that it’s not them you’re concerned about, it’s you. Insisting that donors won’t give is often a way of saying, “I’m not comfortable asking.” Forgive yourself, and go ahead and ask!

There are plenty of people to ask, starting with you!

Of course, the person you need to ask first is yourself. Before you ask anyone else to fund your cause, you need to put in your own money first. Think of it this way: if you don’t think it’s important enough to give, why should your donors? Yes, you put in all sorts of time furthering your cause. You might even risk your physical being and reputation. That’s not enough. You have to show up on the list that donors see after they make their gift. They’ll notice, and question their own commitment if you’re not there.

Along with that, everyone who leads the organization, from the top down, needs to give. In fundraising, it’s called “top-down, inside-out.” Great fundraising starts with the first gifts from the people who lead the organization and are closest to the cause.

It’s important to remember that much of fundraising is a numbers game. Even if your cause is focused on a single neighbourhood, or a single block, you have more potential donors than you think. Unless you’ve asked them all, there’s still potential out there. And after you’ve asked everyone in your community, there are still a lot of outsiders who will see the value of your cause because they love your energy, they empathize with your cause, or they see the same problems in their own community.

Instead of asking for support randomly, there’s a trick to help identify the best people to ask. It comes with the help of the CIA!

CIA? The intelligence agency? No, Capacity, Interest, Access!

Your best potential donors have the capacity to make the gift you’re requesting — whether that’s $10, or $10,000. They have an interest in the cause. In fact, the more interest they have in your cause, the higher potential gift in proportion to their capacity to make a gift. And, (and this is essential), you have to be able to connect with them somehow — you need access. Access isn’t always an in-person, face-to-face connection. It could be an address for direct mail, a social media connection, or a phone number for a call or text.

Successful fundraising isn’t about special techniques or tricks. It’s not about whether you write a letter, host a crowdfunding campaign, or stop people on the street to ask for donations. It’s about how well you tell your story, how much you believe in that story, and how you get your story out. Remember, you can make your dreams happen, their dreams happen, and fulfil the dream of your cause — all by asking.

Your cause is too important to anything less!

Matt Hugg is an author and instructor in nonprofit management in the US and abroad. He is president and founder of Nonprofit.Courses, an on-demand, eLearning educational resource for nonprofit leaders, staff, board members, and volunteers, with thousands of courses in nearly every aspect of nonprofit work.

Source: https://blog.pozible.com/how-to-train-your-grassroots-team-on-fundraising-b1954559f358?source=rss—-ae0d23b22248—4