eBook
Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
Rob Woods
brightspotfundraising.co.uk 2
Power through the Pandemic Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now. Rob Woods
Acknowledgements
I’m incredibly grateful for all the help I’ve received from so many friends and colleagues to write this book.
Thank you to all the heroic fundraisers who gave up time to let me interview them, and especially those who made time to check the stories I included; and everyone on the current Corporate and Major Gifts Mastery Programmes and in the Bright Spot Members Club for sharing your questions, victories and lessons learned through our regular Group Coaching sessions.
Thank you to my wonderful Bright Spot colleagues – Katie, Ben S, Charly, Louise, Craig, Ben M, Gavin - for your generous advice, stories, encouragement and problem-solving.
And, crucially, a huge thank you to Poppy, Wilfie and May for giving me so much time and space to concentrate, at a time when these gifts are especially precious.
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Power through the Pandemic Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now. Rob Woods
Contents
Introduction ‘Dear brave fundraiser…’ 4
Chapter 1 If you care about them, start with you 6
Chapter 2 What to say to interest and inspire 11
Chapter 3 More conversations 16
Chapter 4 Plan inspiring virtual events 21
Chapter 5 Ask for a gift / offer people the chance to help 25
Chapter 6 Leadership during the crisis – five essentials 29
Chapter 7 Make time for learning 35
Afterword 41
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Power through the Pandemic Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now. Rob Woods
Introduction
Dear brave fundraiser,
First, and most importantly, thank you for hanging in there.
I don’t know you personally, but from the many conversations I’ve been having with friends and colleagues who work in the charity sector, I can only presume that life has been really tough for you too recently.
Perhaps you are having to solve more difficult problems than ever before, to lead a team or bring in funds, and without the encouraging company of colleagues in the same room. Perhaps you’re having to put in daily shifts as a primary school teacher at home, before you even start your fundraising job; or you’ve been furloughed and are working out how to best use your time and stay well; maybe you are having to do these things while also shielding or while worrying about the welfare of loved ones.
Whatever challenges you are facing at home and at work, thank you for doing your best, on the days that have seemed to go well and, especially, on the days that have not.
And thank you for downloading this book, for finding the energy to keep learning, seeking answers to difficult questions, even with everything else you’ve got to deal with. I really hope it pays you back for the time you invest.
Why I wrote it
I wrote this book because in March 2020 I realised our charities were under more pressure than ever. And I really hated the fact that then, with such new and complex problems for fundraisers, I did not have many clear answers for their questions.
I had opinions (and I’ve since discovered that so many of the fundamental principles of good fundraising still apply during a pandemic) but I did not have relevant examples of successful fundraising during a global pandemic to back up those opinions.
And I’ve always found that real examples, what the authors of the excellent book Switch, call ‘bright spots’, make a massive difference to the chances that we feel inspired to follow through and take action.
So I decided to interview lots of fundraisers and fundraising leaders, who I heard were doing well, securing gifts and partnerships, in spite of the pandemic. I conducted more than 20 interviews. You can listen to some of them on the Fundraising Bright Spots podcast. And I heard from lots of the fundraisers who were then half-way through our 2020 Corporate Mastery and Major Gifts Mastery Programmes, and who have been responding brilliantly.
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
I’ve also learned a great deal about the challenges fundraisers are facing, and about innovative ways to solve those challenges, through the Group Coaching sessions I’ve been doing twice / week for the members of our online training and inspiration site, the Bright Spot Members Club.
To all these people, I’ve asked this question, or variations on it:
‘What tactics have you found are working to help you raise money for your charity, in spite of the effects of the pandemic?’
And the more interviews I’ve done, the more I’ve noticed clear patterns emerge.
Why seven?
I noticed these patterns fitted into seven obvious areas of activity. Of course this does not mean some other things are not important too. But in two decades of helping fundraisers raise more money, I’ve found that Focus Is Power. Deciding to focus on some things more than others is not easy, but it is crucial. So that’s one reason why I stopped at seven. The other reason was that I wanted to get this book in front of you, free of charge, by the first week of May.
Even (and especially) for the less obvious causes
While some of these fundraisers have worked for causes obviously aligned with the virus (eg hospices and those working with other vulnerable groups), others have come from a broad range of sectors, including animal charities, arts charities, environmental charities and international as well as local and national charities.
I agree that it is clearly harder for some causes right now than others. I’ve also noticed that some fundraisers in charities that seem less relevant to the health crisis, are nevertheless managing to raise large gifts. Their supporters still care deeply.
Why focus?
Four of the seven chapters are explicitly written to help high value relationship fundraisers – especially those who work with major donors, trusts and corporate partners. I chose this focus for two reasons. For one, I noticed that some of these donors have really stepped up their giving to help charities during the crisis. For another, as I regularly train fundraisers in Mastery Programmes for these areas, I’ve been spending more time helping people solve these challenges than other ones, so have gained a deeper sense of the issues.
That said, if you do other kinds of fundraising, I hope you may still find some of those ideas useful. And in particular, the chapters on well-being (chapter 1); leadership (chapter 6) and learning and inspiration (chapter 7) are just as relevant whatever your job.
Thank you for reading this book. I really hope it gives you some help and encouragement.
And if it does, please could you help me by spreading the word, sharing it on, so it reaches as many people as possible.
Please take care of yourself, and best of luck with all your brave efforts to make a difference.
Rob Woods 5th May 2020
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Power through the Pandemic Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now. Rob Woods
Chapter 1 If you care about them, start with you
What can you do to stay at your best in spite of challenging times?
‘Your first ritual of the day is the highest leveraged ritual by far, because it has the effect of setting your mind, and setting the context, for the rest of your day.’ Eben Pagan
In challenging times, we need to take deliberate steps to take care of ourselves.
If we inadvertently give all our time and energy to our many professional and personal responsibilities, and neglect our own health and well-being, we end up with a lose / lose situation. Not only are we putting ourselves in danger, but we’re also unable to give of our best to the people and causes we seek to serve.
Di’s morning routine
I recently interviewed Di Gornall, an excellent leader whose team at Centrepoint have been doing incredibly well over the last few weeks. I wanted to understand her approach to leadership during the crisis. She was emphatic about what comes first for her. Look after yourself. This is not unlike the wise advice given to parents through airline safety announcements, that in the event of an emergency, put on your own mask before trying to do the same for others.
Di cares deeply about the well-being of her team, and she’s doing her utmost to look out for them, but she was clear that she can only do that effectively, and make good decisions on the many other challenges that come her way, if she sets her day up in the best way possible.
I asked Di what this looks like, and she says that every morning, she works out on her exercise bike for 30 - 40 minute, or does some yoga. She finds that her morning exercise habit is the best possible way she can take care of herself and get into a good mindset ready for the working day.
Another well-being tactic Di mentioned as having helped over the last few weeks has been occasionally playing her piano. She said ‘it’s not because I’m any good, but because I enjoy it and it forces me to be present. You can’t think about anything else while you’re playing.’
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
Three sensible well-being habits that are more important than ever:
A Take breaks, of course…
Most of the things that help us stay well are obvious - eat properly, take breaks and switch off from work at lunch time and after a certain time of day. Throughout the day, make time for yourself, for breaks from the computer, for time to eat some fruit or get some exercise etc.
B Control your focus.
One of the most important things that can help your well-being is to make a decision about how much bad news you are going to pay attention to each day.
Exposing yourself to too much bad news, either through mainstream media and / or through social media, can only lead to you feeling more anxious. Even before the pandemic, using social media a lot can seep into your unconscious mind and adversely affect your mood.
By all means, we need to stay informed at the moment. Decide which reputable news source you’re going to trust for information. But make the decision, and practice the discipline of limiting the amount of social media you look at. And, if you want to improve the quality of your sleep, then as Arianna Huffington advises in her brilliant book on well-being, Thrive, don’t listen to the news or look at devices in the evening close to bed time.
If you’re not sleeping as well as you’d like, make sure mobiles and tablets don’t come into the bedroom. Take simple steps that help. For instance, one of my colleagues started to get much better sleep when she bought an alarm clock, meaning she no longer needed to take her mobile into the bedroom.
C Talk.
Stay in touch – it helps you manage what things mean… and builds your resilience
Professor Angela Duckworth, one of the world’s experts in the study of resilience, explains in her excellent book Grit, that resilient people are more likely to interpret events in a relatively optimistic way. She has found that people who score highly on her ‘grit score’ questionnaire also score highly on tests for optimism.
Throughout my research into fundraisers who have been fundraising effectively during the pandemic, I’ve heard them pointing out to me certain advantages this situation has brought for fundraising, even for causes not directly related to the virus.
Clearly the crisis is having many tragic, stressful and very difficult effects on our own lives and those of our colleagues and beneficiaries. I would never want to downplay these. I also recognise that the situation is affecting each of us different ways. Clearly some people’s situations are much harder than others.
But as I mentioned earlier, the crisis has brought some opportunities too, if we’re willing to find or notice them. Donors are now more likely to answer their phone and have time to talk; when they give many are more generous than normal; some of the innovation we’re implementing now seems likely to better serve our charities long into the future.
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
Not automatic, but worth striving for…
But the truth is, finding a positive or empowering meaning is notoriously hard for the human brain, even without lots of bad news coming at us through our screens. The negativity-bias is well documented as a survival instinct our ancestors developed to keep them ready to avoid danger.
Finding an optimistic meaning in amongst the difficulties is genuinely hard at the best of times. And that is precisely why Duckworth recommends the value of maintaining a strong support network. This may seem paradoxical to some, but she found that resilient people are good at having regular catch ups with others, so that they can talk things over and they’re good at asking for help.
When you talk to someone who is able to genuinely listen and care about what you’re up against, professionally or personally, it makes it much easier to find a way through.
I know that this habit too, can be difficult, but anything you can do to stay in touch, to check in and have regular catch ups with colleagues or friends who have your best interests at heart, can only help you appreciate what may be going well as well, as what’s difficult right now.
So far, so obvious…but what if you know all three of the above make sense, but you’re not managing to do them in practice?
I know these are obvious, but we have to find a way to actually do the common sense things, which is why there is a fundamental practice that’s not entirely obvious, but will really help.
If you don’t do it already, I suggest you try this for the next five days, and find out for yourself what difference it makes. If nothing else, I predict it will usually make you feel good and strengthen your will power, so you’ll be more likely to do other common sense well-being habits like the first three I mentioned. The big idea - deliberately start your day right.
I’ve been practicing the idea of a healthy morning routine for 8 years and it’s made a huge difference. It’s also really helping me to keep well during the pandemic and lockdown.
If you don’t already do this, I urge you, with every good intention I can muster, to at least test this tactic for yourself, even just for the five days.
Why? Because for most people, just after you get up is the one time you have some chance of finding time for yourself.
Want to set yourself up for a better day?
In The Miracle Morning, Hal Elrod, talks about the positive effect of a few morning rituals that increase the chances that your day will go well.
The reason I’ve found the idea so powerful is that before I tested this approach, I had previously spent many days with good intentions for the exercise or calm meditating or being grateful practice that I was planning to do later, when I had time… but I usually never got around to doing them once the day got busy.
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
I found reading The Miracle Morning made me more likely to follow through on the idea of a good morning routine. If this idea resonates with you, do check out the book.
This is what Di Gornall, who I mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, did. She was at our Breakfast Club for Fundraising Leaders four years ago when I mentioned how helpful it had been for me. Intrigued, she bought the book and has been feeling the benefits of her positive morning routine ever since.
Elrod convincingly demonstrates that even just a short ‘We are what we time (5 – 10 minutes) in the morning doing certain things, repeatedly do. pays you back. He even suggests they are so helpful that its worth getting up a bit earlier, specifically so that you Excellence, then, is not can fit some in before your daily tasks start coming at you. an act, but a habit.’ I have found its worth the sacrifice, although if you’re not getting enough sleep right now, I’m not advising you to Aristotle sleep even less.
Ideally, go to bed 15 minutes earlier to enable you to try out Elrod’s ‘priming effect’ without worrying about sleep loss. Here are five activities Elrod recommends you could choose from to do each morning:
1 Exercise
Whatever is the right level for you, eg some stretches, walk or run in the garden or up and down stairs, dancing round the kitchen, some basic yoga or press ups.
2 Gratitude
Deliberately finding and writing down in a notebook 5 – 10 things you are / can feel thankful for right now. The more you search for them, the more you’ll find.
3 Meditation
Sitting still and doing some calm breathing, so you practice being more mindful. If you find this is difficult, try the free Headspace app to guide you; or prayer; or visualisation in which you see the day / or your fundraising project overall, generating the brilliant result you want.
4 Reading
Either reading a book that inspires you, or listening to a TED talk or inspiring podcast. (Not sure where to start? See Chapter 7 for some books and podcasts that have really helped me).
5 Write in a journal
Capturing in a notebook your intentions for the day; reflecting on what you learned or achieved yesterday. These activities help prime you to develop the crucial growth mindset that Prof Angela Duckworth has found resilient people cultivate. Even just five minutes a day changes your focus so you are more likely to learn, and notice that you are learning.
Not many people manage to do all five of these habits every day, but my experience is that just doing one or two, every day, and sometimes trying different ones, will pay you back.
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
?
How could you build the habit to help you power through?
Why not try doing this out for the next five days, to see for yourself if it helps your day?
Will you try it tomorrow morning?
What time?
What could you prepare now so that its more likely to happen tomorrow morning? (eg find the book / notebook / running shoes etc., so they’re laid out waiting for you).
Good luck, take care of yourself, and let me know how you get on (@woods_rob)
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
Chapter 2 What to say to interest and inspire
‘If you seek to influence someone, first seek to understand and appreciate their world.’ The Law of Understanding, from my book The Fundraiser Who Wanted More
As always, the first thing to do, when in either a virtual or face to face conversation, is to care about and listen to the other person.
Secondly, when it is your turn to talk, talk less about your charity and its problems, and more about your beneficiaries and their problems. It’s the latter that your supporters really care about.
But if we’re go into this into a little more depth, what could you say that is most likely to inspire your supporters?
Five to Thrive
Here are five specific things to be able to say that will help your supporters be interested and care, which is an abbreviated version of The Magic Formula that I teach on our Corporate Mastery and Major Gifts Mastery Programmes and in the Bright Spot Members Club.
1 Be able to point out what’s not immediately obvious (about the beneficiaries’ problem). 2 Be able to explain how your charity is responding to help your beneficiaries now, even if you don’t know this in detail. 3 Be able to share real examples. 4 Find some ways to show impact, even if they’re not perfect. 5 Be able to mention the support you’re receiving from other wonderful supporters like them.
1 Be able to point out what’s not immediately obvious
In Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath talk about how human beings have internal ‘guessing machines’ that unconsciously predict what you are about to say. So if we only say things that the supporter already knew, that is, what we communicate is consistent with what they predicted, we rarely hold their interest for long.
One simple, powerful way to overcome this tendency is to deliberately say something that is not immediately obvious. It does not need to be astonishing, that they never could have worked out. Just an angle that may not have been top of mind until you mentioned it.
A key question to ask yourself:
‘What is not immediately obvious about the effect of the pandemic on our beneficiaries?’
And if their life is made harder by the coronavirus situation, why is that?
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
Ben Swart, a very experienced corporate fundraiser for a children’s charity, has noticed that supporters he talks to are intrigued and moved when he talks about the implications of the recent lockdown on children who live with someone that makes them feel unsafe. Not being able to go to school or work is hard enough for most of us, but its extraordinarily hard, even dangerous for people at risk of domestic or child abuse, especially when the people they live with maybe feeling greater levels of stress.
What’s the effect of social distancing on the people your charity serves?
If you are very ill and nearing the end of your life in a hospice or hospital, one thing that is harder than usual is the effect of the pandemic on visiting hours. For many patients in this situation, during this pandemic you can no longer be surrounded by your loved ones. While many hospices are able to let people visit, where normally your family could be with you all the time, now the number of visitors has to be far fewer, and visiting hours have sometimes had to be restricted to a few hours a day. This is very difficult when you may be feeling more frightened and lonely than ever.
Do your beneficiaries rely on a particular medicine, regular check-ups, face to face counselling or kidney dialysis?
If your charity is a youth club, school, university, arts or research organisation, what is harder for those people who you usually serve? Loneliness, safety, anxiety, depression? And what will be harder once the lock-down is lifted, meaning it’s essential you’re there to help them?
The pandemic is hitting the world’s poorest people disproportionately hard. If your charity helps people overseas, what is especially hard for those people, if for instance they are migrant workers with no source of income now that their place of work has locked down? How will they feed their family?
One thing that’s difficult about answering these questions is that the answers may not seem exciting, in fact, they may be relatively obvious to you.
But they’re not necessarily obvious to your supporters. Be clear on and able talk them through these issues.
2 Be able to say what your charity is doing, especially now, to help your beneficiaries solve these problems
Your solutions may be imperfect, but the chances are your colleagues are doing everything they can to respond. By pointing these things out to your supporter, you can show them they are contributing to something immediate.
For instance, Ben Swart explained on Episode 21 of my podcast that he has been telling supporters about how the organisation had to rapidly react to enable its ChildLine volunteer counsellors to answer calls from vulnerable children from their homes, rather than from the ChildLine offices. (Though some volunteers have been coming in to their usual offices, many them are older, and so more likely to be at particular risk of the coronavirus, so needed to take the calls from home.
The chances are your charity has recently had to change various things about how it carries out its mission. Arts organisations have done their best to deliver some value on-line, for example by streaming content and organising quizzes.
Be able to point out, in as concrete, practical, authentic way as possible, what your colleagues have been doing to help, or to prepare for the effects of the pandemic in the medium term. But for most donors (with the exception of many trusts) you don’t need or want too much detail, even on this topic.
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
3 Be able to proactively bring it to life with real examples.
One of the best ways to defeat the curse of knowledge and help your supporter connect, is to include real examples to bring the first two question topics to life.
A couple of years ago, Becky Francis from Stroke Association helped her team at Stroke Association to be more deliberate about including real examples in the way they talked to supporters, and as a result income went up by 210% in the first 18 months she was in post.
Max Newton, now Head of Community Fundraising at Shelter and formerly at the British Red Cross, told me his teams achieved a similar result – a doubling of income compared to other teams - when they got really focused on finding and proactively including more real examples to inspire their supporters.
And these examples are backed up by research carried ‘When we proactively out at Carnegie Mellon University and described in the shared more stories, excellent book, Made to Stick. In the ‘Rokia experiment’, subjects heard one of two messages about the work regional income in my of Save the Children. Version 1 was big picture, factual patch increased by 210% information about the large numbers of a population that were at risk of starvation due to famine. in 14 months. It works!’ Version 2 was a real example about a little girl who was Becky Francis starving. Stroke Association
Version 2, the real example, raised twice as much money (average gift of $2.38) compared to version 1, the factual explanation of the problem, where the average gift was $1.14.
A key challenge for you now
One key challenge for fundraisers right now is, where to find real examples, especially when your colleagues who work delivering your services are probably busier than ever at the moment.
Actually, even before the pandemic, I appreciate that getting hold of real examples was probably not easy. Some colleagues do not understand just what a disproportionate difference having concrete examples makes.
So this approach will not happen automatically, but if you can find a way to make it work, my experience over 20 years in fundraising is that the effort will pay you back.
At its simplest, advises Ben Swart on our podcast, find a way to talk to someone who works with those who need your help. I know they’re really busy, so it may not be easy, but its also true that some charities are now finding a greater unity of purpose, a breaking down of old barriers, as different teams find ways to help each other out.
I’ve heard of various great examples of charities finding a way to solve this recently. For instance, Davinia Batley, Director of Fundraising and Engagement at the charity Become, shared with fellow members in our Bright Spot Club how her colleagues have been brilliant in working with her to find a pragmatic solution.
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
There are only three people in the front-line team, and they’ve been flat out supporting care-experienced children and young people. But they’ve still managed to schedule a weekly catch up meeting with Davinia. But because they’re all so hard pressed, they’ve decided to rotate which person joins the call to share that content, so that each front-line colleague only attends for 30 minutes every three weeks.
4 Find some ways to show impact, even if they’re not perfect
In The Fundraiser Who Wanted More, I demonstrate that while most charities talk in detail about ‘what they do’, I have always found your donors are more inspired to give if you instead focus on helping them see the difference you’re charity is able to make.
Right now, in the literal sense, this can be hard to do. Getting information, including measurement, from the front line is hard during the crisis.
One tactic you can still use though, is to share real examples of people / animals you’re helping now, as we explored in the previous point.
And if you can’t share real examples, the other option is make use of stories and numerical impact measures from before the crisis.
My family and I watched some of the Big Night In fundraising evening from Comic Relief and Children in Need. It was immensely powerful. I noticed that all of the films (at least, while I was watching) used to show who it would help, told stories from a different era, a time before the pandemic.
After seeing one, I felt inspired, desperate to help, and I got out my phone and donated. Note, my brain did not say, hang on a minute, this is what those two boys were struggling with before pandemic. Its not an up to date representation of the charities’ strategy so I will not give.
What great content that shows the effectiveness of your charity could you be using, even if it predates the pandemic?
5 Be able to tell them about heroes like themselves
In the classic book, Influence, Professor Robert Cialdini, describes 6 principles of influence. In the Bright Spot Club I explore the implications of most of them for fundraisers, but to keep things manageable here I want to just focus on one that is much more powerful than most people realise.
As our ancestors evolved during more dangerous, food-scarce times, they became hard-wired to pay attention to what other people think and do. Fitting in, acting consistently with the rest of a tribe we care about, was literally a matter of life and death, and so this same instinct is now hard-wired. As such, it is a surprisingly powerful factor in how we behave now. One study by Cialdini found that if someone ahead of you puts money in a busker’s hat, you are statistically 8 times more likely to also give than if you had not seen that happen.
More recently, there are clearly many wonderful reasons why Captain Tom Moore raised such astonishing amounts of money for NHS charities. I was also curious about why so many people gave to him, not to any other hero doing their best for the same cause.
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
I believe a key factor is the extraordinary power of social proof. The more the media broadcast the inspiring story of how one brave 99-year-old veteran had raised £100,000 (or £1million; or £10 million…) the more other people got caught up in how amazing those numbers were. Clearly, they were inspired by his amazing story as well, but the numbers were also intriguing and exciting, and we wanted to be part of that tribe. This effect is the glorious opposite of ‘bystander apathy’ where people fail to act because they see others not helping a stranger in trouble.
How can you use this? When you talk to supporters, don’t let them assume they would be unusual if they helped. Be able to proactively mention some of the other wonderful, generous donations, people you’ve been talking to (in a similar tribe to your supporter) who are giving.
This cannot make someone care about your cause if they did not do so before. But it can help them feel reassured to take action and feel part of a like-minded tribe that cares.
?
To make future conversations with supporters more inspiring, can you find answers to these five areas? It may be easier to brainstorm this with a colleague or team.
1 Point out what’s not immediately obvious about the beneficiaries’ problem
2 Be able to explain how your charity is responding to help your beneficiaries now, even if you don’t know this in detail.
3 Be able to share real examples.
4 Find some ways to show impact, even if they’re not perfect.
5 Be able to mention the support you’re receiving from other wonderful supporters like them.
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
Chapter 3 More conversations
How to have more conversations with supporters in spite of the pandemic
‘My approach is to have as many virtual cups of coffee as possible…we can’t do face to face events or meetings, but there are so many other things we can do.’ Lynda Harwood-Compton, Animals Asia
With nearly everyone now staying at home and worried about their health, income and families, it’s difficult for us to meet our supporters and build relationships as we normally would.
One crucial activity to maintain and continue to build relationships is to keep having conversations anyway.
On our Major Gifts and Corporate Mastery Programmes, a key thing we help participants to focus on, and succeed at, is having more conversations with the right existing and potential supporters.
The challenge is that you’ve got colleagues who want you to get big gifts and partnerships and you regularly have to fill in spreadsheets talking about how much of these big results you are achieving and likely to achieve. But if each day you focus the bulk of your attention on these glittering prizes, we’ve found you’re unlikely to do (and enjoy doing) enough of the small steps that lead to these things your charity really wants.
What’s the answer? Like the best car salespeople, I suggest you put disproportionate energy into having more ‘test-drives’ ie conversations (or, as we talk about in Chapter 4, inspiring virtual meetings with your colleagues). If you increase the number of conversations you’re having, the number of gifts will go up anyway.
When you connect and seek to help, it lifts your own mood
When you focus on who you can talk / connect with / cheer up today, rather than where you can get some money, your energy shifts. You become braver and so more likely to make the calls.
And since releasing Episode 19 of the Fundraising Bright Spots podcast on this subject, dozens of people have contacted us to say that making these calls has been good for their own morale (in addition to sometimes leading to gifts).
Major donors
Leanne McNulty at Room to Read told us she’s been getting great results by being proactive in this way. She says that after the first couple of calls, she has really got into it, enjoying the effect these conversations have on the donor and on her morale. And it’s helping generate financial results too. Leanne called one person who had supported in the past and had a good chat. She didn’t ask for a gift, but, as we talk about in Chapter 2, talked about what’s going on for the charity’s beneficiaries. A week later she received a gift of £2000 from that supporter. Can we prove this gift would not have happened without the call? No, is it far more likely that it happened because Leanne reached out? Clearly.
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
More individual givers are increasing their gifts, and by a greater level
Centrepoint, the youth homelessness charity has been achieving fabulous results through their recent campaign to existing donors who donate £15 / month. Whereas normally, around one in five donors supporters they talk to decides to increase their monthly donation, since the pandemic began this rate has risen to just under one in three donors (29% decide to increase their giving level). Not only this, but the average amount they’ve been giving in these campaigns has gone up considerably - by an average of £30 extra / year.
Trusts
Andy Watts, Head of Trust Fundraising at Sue Ryder said that since the pandemic hit in the UK, a key activity that he and his team have made time for is to reach out and have conversations with the trusts and foundations that support the charity. And it has been extremely powerful. In the past six weeks, Andy and his colleagues prioritised talking to their warmest trusts (starting from highest value/potential through to those that have given £10k+ in the last two years).
All of them were happy to talk, and most were reassuring about their determination to do their best to help. To date, this has led to several trusts being more flexible about how existing gifts get spent and offering to release pledges early to help with cash flow. And at the time of writing, over £500k of new, emergency gifts have been confirmed, and at least 3 new six-figure gifts are currently being discussed.
I know that if your cause is less directly linked to the coronavirus than the hospices Andy represents, some trusts are less likely to be responding to you in this way with emergency gifts. They will be prioritising. But I have also heard that most are more open to at least having those conversations and doing their best to help if the knock on effects of the pandemic are effecting your charities’ ability to help its beneficiaries.
In Episode 19 of the Fundraising Bright Spots podcast, I ‘The most successful interviewed Ben Swart about what he considers to be sales-people at BMW the most important activity for high value relationship fundraisers right now. don’t focus on selling cars, but on booking (In Chapter 7 I share one fascinating way Diabetes UK made use of this podcast to lift morale in their team, as test-drives, because it’s well as generate new gifts and partnerships). easier! For fundraisers In it, he explains why being brave and calling / face-timing now, the thing to focus your supporters is more crucial than ever, not necessarily to seek a gift, but to show that you care (about the on, our ‘test-drive’ supporter), to let them know about the challenges faced by your beneficiaries right now, and how your charity is equivalent, is virtual cups responding. of coffee / conversations.’ Talking to people is the most powerful way for them to know you care…
It’s really tempting to default to more distant, less interactive ways of communicating with people who support our charities, such as email.
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I agree that for some relationships, when they know you well, its possible and sometimes effective to set up conversations in advance, by email. This certainly can work and feels safer. So if its working for you, carry on.
But if people are not responding, and you have a phone number and permission to use it, I suggest you try calling. Our experience is that at the moment, people are much more likely to answer and to want to talk (as long as your tone is right, seeking to give not get).
And if the timing is wrong, ask if there is another time they’d like to speak instead.
Be clear of your intention
Set your intention to give not get. Unless you are engaged in an emergency appeal, you are not calling to ask for anything. You are calling because you care about them, and because you know they are likely to also care about your beneficiaries, your charities’ purpose.
And even if you are engaged in an appeal, or in the call you see it is appropriate to offer them the chance to help, then this is still something you are offering rather than asking, ie that they might want to do, for their reasons, because it would solve a problem they care about. For more on this see Chapter 5 on how to make it easier to ask for a donation.
‘Only Connect’. Currently, a better than normal chance they’ll pick up EM Forster When Andy Sallnow from PCUK was making calls to supporters in the third week of March 2020, 80% of event supporters were taking his call to chat or calling him back (up from 10 – 30% normally). Why? Many people have more time. Many of them still want to do something to help a cause they care about as much as or more than before.
‘He told me the first thing And finally, another approach, with the same objective he’s going to do is call all When you know your primary objective is to have more conversations, I have always found its easier to be more those donors and let creative in finding a way to achieve this goal. One recent them know about this approach I really like is that taken by Neil Bailey, who is Director of Philanthropy at the charity Earthwatch. precarious situation. He wanted to invite conversations with 400 people Note, he did not say, the who had taken part in environmental expeditions first thing will be to craft through Earthwatch in the past. They had received little communication since 2014, but with the charities’ 50th a carefully worded email.’ year anniversary coming up, Neil wanted to re-start a Ben Swart conversation with them, to find and celebrate their stories Episode 19 as part of the event. He talked it through with Bright Spot Fundraising Bright Spots podcast major gifts coaches Louise Morris and Charly White. Here’s what he did.
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In late March, during the lock-down Neil sent a letter to each of them, inviting them to a virtual meeting so that he could interview them to hear the story of their Earthwatch expedition and the impact it had had on their life. At the start of the letter, he acknowledged the lock-down and pandemic, and offered this as an opportunity they would enjoy taking in spite of the circumstances.
The letter was short – just three paragraphs – but deliberately drew a link between what they had done and the current problem for the planet. Here is one excerpt:
‘…Our work, as a science-based charity, has never been more critical and your story could truly inspire others. Many people care about the planet. Many worry about it. Earthwatchers are some of the few who take action…’
At the time of publishing this, Neil has received more than 50 replies – so far 10% of the 400 have said they’d like a conversation. He’s now had 40 of these conversations, and the supporters have really enjoyed sharing their stories, as well as the chance to hear about Earthwatch’s current plans.
Neil’s next steps are to make the most of these stories, and to plan follow up communication with the supporters, which may take the form of webinars. In due course he will also offer them the opportunity to support Earthwatch’s mission.
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Your chance to Power Through… in 7 steps
Decide and get in the right energy
1 Draw up a list of key supporters, be they corporates, clubs and associations, event participants, major or mid-level donors etc.
2 each day, starting in the morning when you’re likely to feel bravest, make some calls. (And vary what time of day works best).
3 Before you call, anything you’ve done to get in a good state pays dividends. Part of this comes from your focus (give not get), and part of it comes from the other factors we talked about in Chapter 1. Anything you can prime your body and / or mind into a great state each morning, or just before doing some calls, makes a huge difference to how brave you feel and how much you enjoy these chats.
Now pick up the phone
4 Once you get through, briefly let them know the reason for your call. Eg. You’re calling from X Charity, to let them know about what you’re doing to respond to help Y community during the pandemic.
5 But before you get in to any of that, sincerely ask how they are doing at this difficult time. And listen.
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6 After hearing how they are doing, be able to explain what’s going on, in particular, what’s so difficult for your beneficiaries right now and that your charity is helping solve those problems. One of the most powerful things you can do is mention real examples from your front-line colleagues about your beneficiaries. See Chapter 2 for more detail on what you could say.
7 (If appropriate), offer them a way to help your organisation help it’s beneficiaries right now (see Chapter 7 for details).
Let me know how you get on! I love to hear your examples.
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Chapter 4 Plan inspiring virtual events
‘At the end of the webinar, pretty much every single donor emailed me to say how much they enjoyed it and appreciated us taking the time to bring the sanctuary to them.’ Lynda Harwood-Compton, Animals Asia
Charities have long known that it’s important to build relationships with supporters rather than simply ask for money before either party knows each other.
Though to some extent this principle becomes less rigid during a crisis – many donors have been asked for help and have given generously during the pandemic without necessarily knowing a charity really well – it is nevertheless important to have plans to inform and inspire your supporters. And for the time being, if this is to happen it must happen virtually.
There are many ways you can arrange a virtual meeting. Obviously one option at an individual level is to arrange for supporters to be able to meet someone senior such as your chief executive. I recommend such meetings, for all the same reasons that face to face meetings would make sense in ordinary times.
But this chapter is more concerned with larger events you might arrange in advance, so you can more efficiently take steps to inspire and better involve groups of major donors, companies or trusts in your mission.
I know of a hospice that has had great take-up for a Zoom meeting which will take place soon in which donors will have the chance to find out how the hospice has been responding to the challenges presented by the coronavirus. A music organisation that had planned a reception for its donors at one of its concerts in mid-March, swiftly adapted, inviting donors instead to a chance to listen to the music on Spotify and then attend a virtual drinks and chat session.
In this chapter, I share in a little more depth, two examples of virtual events charities have been using successfully during the pandemic.
1 ‘The Inside Scoop…’ Webinars to connect supporters to the front line
In March 2020, I carried out an interview with Lynda Harwood-Compton, an excellent major donor fundraiser at Animals Asia for Episode 20 of the Fundraising Bright Spots podcast. We talked about lessons Lynda has learned through arranging webinars for mid-level and major donors since September 2019.
This first event was attended by 30 major donors and the charity received such enthusiastic feedback, they decided to do more in 2020. Then when the pandemic hit, they realised it was an invaluable tactic and have run one in February and two more in March 2020, with more planned.
With the urgent need to share information about the charities’ response to the coronavirus, Animals Asia have found these events invaluable. Take-up from donors on the four webinars has been excellent, with an overwhelmingly positive response from donors.
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Structure
The events tend to last 60 minutes in total: For instance, there is an initial presentation of 45 mins from her colleagues bringing to life the difference the animal sanctuaries are making in China andV ietnam; the final 15 minutes are a chance for donors to ask questions to that expert.
Purpose
Lynda does include a very gentle request for funding during the webinar. However, the objective is primarily to steward existing donors, and lead to further (virtual) conversations, rather than to generate funds.
As soon as donors receive the invite, she says they start getting in touch because she has asked them if they’ve got any questions beforehand. So she finds it’s already helped create more interaction even before the webinar happens.
Lynda has found these events very helpful for generating new conversations with supporters. For instance, one supporter who she had struggled to secure a coffee meeting with for 18 months, has now scheduled a virtual meeting because she was keen to hear what was said in the webinar but unable to attend.
When there isn’t time to answer all donors’ questions during the webinar, the chance to follow up with this information helps deepen relationships further.
One unexpected benefit has been increased morale in her service delivery colleagues who have really appreciated and learned from this unprecedented contact with donors who hold them in high esteem.
Promotion
With two emails to warm donors, the webinars tend to fill. Attendees then receive two reminders nearer the start date.
Resourcing
When delivering these events, Animals Asia involve four staff – Lynda, who chairs; the front-line manager of the programme; one person to manage the Q&A box to do with the specific webinar content; one person to look after the Chat box which is to help supporters with any technological questions regarding the webinar or general questions about animals Asia.
If you have less resource, you don’t need all four staff members, however, it is recommended if possible the event will be better and less stressful if there are three of you, so that you if you’re chairing the event you are not also trying to handle the tech and chat box on your own.
Two tips
• Share your supporters’ point of view
When preparing for the webinar, be sure to help your colleague who works on the front line understand what your donors are most likely to be interested in. (ie probably the challenges faced by your beneficiaries; what you do to help them; and crucially, how you know it works. Help them get a sense of the progress your charity is able to achieve.
A key element of Animals Asia’s approach is exclusivity. Their webinar series is The Inside Scoop. As the inner circle, donors hear privileged information.
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• Practice sessions
It’s so important to do run-throughs. Lynda makes these as realistic as possible, ie she has her colleagues join the webinars as if they are real supporters and ask questions for her and her service delivery colleague to handle.
2 Round table events – discussing issues with leadership
The Key Relationships team at Greenpeace has organised three Round Table virtual meetings in April 2020 for existing and potential major donors.
The events have been an opportunity for supporters to spend time in a virtual meeting with senior leaders at the organisation. The sessions have been one hour long, starting with two ten-minute presentations from the Executive Director and, for instance, the Senior Policy Advisor.
The remainder of the event has been a group discussion, in which Greenpeace welcomed feedback and ideas in relation to its current campaign and to risks to the climate during and following the pandemic.
Each event was attended by up to twenty supporters and chaired by an Account Manager in the Key Relationship Team. This helps make the meeting run smoothly and offers a chance to further relationships and understand donors’ points of view.
Both major gifts and deeper engagement
During the event, the Executive Director has asked for support and so far these requests have led to several valuable four and five figure major gifts.
The events have also been a great way to more closely involve existing and potential supporters in the work of the organisation. For instance, one high profile supporter was keen to attend. When that was not possible for various reasons, it nevertheless led to a virtual meeting with a senior leader in the charity, which had not been achieved before the pandemic.
One key advantage, explained Lucie Marks who helped organise the events, is that you can arrange them with a shorter lead time, and because they’re easier to attend without the need for travel, they can be easier for supporters to say yes to. For this reason, she believes that after the pandemic has run its course, the team is likely to continue to offer Round Table events, or something similar, as one means to engage and inspire.
What kind of virtual event might best suit your supporters?
If your supporters give at a lower level, and there are larger numbers, organising a Facebook Live is a very effective way to connect, tell stories and answer questions from existing donors and many people who you don’t even know you yet.
For instance, I really liked what the team at The Ghurka Welfare Trust did in April 2020. They ran a fantastic first event which really struck a chord. It reached 52,000 people, with an amazing 20,000 engagements so far.
You can watch it here: https://www.facebook.com/600192853326454/videos/473326483379451/
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If your audience is corporate, trusts, major or mid level donors, how exclusive would you like the event to feel? How many people would you like to attend?
What will the purpose of your event be, who would your supporters most like to talk to, and who would facilitate?
Who could you talk to, to start to explore the ideas?
Let me know how you get on! I love to hear your examples.
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Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
Chapter 5 Ask for a gift / offer people the chance to help
The secret to confidently asking someone to give to your charity
I once had the privilege of interviewing Victoria Stephenson, the outstanding global lead for philanthropy at UNICEF, about the growth her team had achieved. In particular we discussed one gift she had asked a philanthropist for, worth £15 million. Was she nervous, I wanted to know, on the way to that meeting, knowing she was about to ask for that much money?
A little, she said, but really she was more excited than nervous. Why? Because she felt she was taking to this supporter the chance to do an utterly amazing thing that would positively affect many thousands of lives. This was a once in a life time offer.
Victoria had learned that she wasn’t really asking for money. She was offering someone an opportunity to do something fantastic, for their own reasons.
Deep down, her belief was that they weren’t really giving ‘Let go. You care about to the charity at all, but were deciding to solve a problem them enough to set up they cared about. The charity was merely the vehicle they trusted to solve that problem for them. this call and make this offer to do the most This difference may seem like semantics to you, but once you really get your head around this, it makes an enormous amazing thing. Then give difference to the confidence you feel when talking to a them the emotional supporter about whether they’d like to donate. space to choose to do How do you grow your own confidence in this area? what they want to do.’ Strengthen your belief that giving is good for people. Why would you not offer them a chance to do this?
Search out evidence that giving really is emotionally good for people. Make a list of three times you have been generous / kind and admit that it felt good or at least distracted you from your troubles. Make a note of a supporter or volunteer you have thanked, who told you sincerely, ‘it really was my pleasure. We enjoyed this chance to help.’
And if you need a quick, persuasive hit, watch the final two minutes of the Secret Millionaire programme. The wealthy person interviewed at the end of the programme (when they are £50,000 poorer) always experiences more positive emotions than at the beginning of their philanthropic journey.
This emotional truth is obvious but so often over-looked in practice.
Fundraisers who have attended our Major Gifts and Corporate Mastery Programmes have told us that by deliberately seeking out and embracing these examples, the easier it becomes to ask for a large donation.
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Asking for a large gift, grant or partnership
As discussed in Chapter 3, be proactive in talking to supporters. When appropriate be able to talk about your cause, your beneficiaries, including and especially what is so hard for them, and how your charity is responding to this.
Sometimes just hearing about this will cause supporters to want to give.
Caroline, a philanthropy manager for a hospice, told me about a call she made in which a supporter told her she was ‘about to write her end of financial year cheque to the hospice’… and Caroline hadn’t even mentioned the idea of giving.
And sometimes you can tell that the person you are talking to is keen to help. When this is the case, here are some small steps that can make this ‘offer / ask’ easier.
Some ideas to help you actually offer them the chance to help (aka ‘ask’)…
1 Check in / confirm they like what your charity is doing
This is not essential, but it can help. Include a ‘confirm question’ which is a closed (yes or no) question to ask them whether they do (or don’t) believe in / like the sound of the things you’ve just told them your charity is doing to help.
Eg ‘My sense is that you think moving our counselling service on-line so we can continue to help them now is the right approach. Am I right about that?’
If they tell you no, they have reservations about what your charity is currently doing, then you now have a chance to understand and respond to those questions. (Much easier to do this before you’ve actually asked for a gift or partnership).
And if they say ‘yes’, then it’s often going to be appropriate to offer them the chance to support, to help fund that work.
2 Offer the chance to do something good
Next, ask if they would like to help fund this project / research / our work over the coming months. Even if you have a specific gift amount in mind, based on previous conversations or research, its usually better to first just ask if they’d like to ‘consider helping to fund this work’…(or similar, in your words) rather than say a specific number initially.
If they are at all interested in helping, they’re likely to ask you for more detail ie ‘how much?’
Where normally, many major donors and companies are more likely to give to a restricted / ear-marked topic, now many understand that as a charity you need to be able to adapt and use funds for whatever is most needed. You may be able to ask for an unrestricted gift.
Whether or not you have formally launched an emergency appeal, you could then let them know about the scale of your charities’ challenges to help your beneficiaries now, broadly how much that costs, and then either ask for a specific amount, or offer them two or three options.
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Louise Morris of Summit Fundraising is an associate Major Gifts Coach of Bright Spot. In helping her charity clients to prepare and make emergency asks during the pandemic, one tactic that has helped is to use the appeal gift table as a prop.
So if the supporter is relatively close to your charity already (and those are the people you’re most likely to be able to have this kind of conversation with at the moment), then one un-threatening way to do this is to mention or even share the Appeal Gift Table. Often the supporter will identify themselves as wanting to give at a certain level that they can see in the table.
If you’re doing an appeal, you probably have this tool already. It’s a planning tool that in top-line terms outlines the various levels of gift that you hope to receive to reach the total. If you don’t have it, you can do the ask / offer fine without it or put a simple one together.
Another option is to mention two or three options for the level at which they might want to fund your work.
3 Pause and wait for their reply
If they have questions, do your utmost to handle those, with a particular emphasis on understanding where they are coming from, what the supporter really wants to know / what outcome they really seek. This is often not obvious from the initial question (or apparent objection), so welcoming any questions and proactively seeking more information is an excellent habit to practice. If you can be genuinely curious, detach from any temptation to ‘defend’ you find out so much more. It often helps you answer or solve the issue that was really behind the initial question.
Doing this in practice is easier if you detach yourself from the result of this conversation…
4 Let go
If the supporter / company is not interested in or able to give at the moment, be open to and respectful of this. In her excellent book The Art of Asking, Amanda Palmer says a key element of generous asking is to leave space for someone to truly choose, to decide, for their reasons, whether they’d like to give or not. Let go of any attachment to whether or not they give, because it is beyond your control. You care enough to set up this call and make this offer. The rest is their choice.
Paradoxically, when this is your approach to making this offer, your chances of receiving a generous donation go up. And you’ll certainly enjoy the experience more and feel less stress.
5 Remember the ‘wealthy cab driver’s secret’
Assuming the meeting has gone relatively well – for instance, they’ve told you they’re interested in helping and need to go away and think / check their finances before they get back to you, beware a common pitfall which often destroys all momentum… The meeting ends with each party saying ‘we’ll get back to you.’
When they possibly can, as you get out the cab, wise taxi driver’s ask you if you’d like them to come back to pick you up for the return journey. Not every passenger is in a position to say yes, but to ask for the next journey before the current one finishes is a wise step to remember.
So whenever possible, say how much you enjoyed the conversation and would love to pencil the date for the next meeting in the diary. This (virtual) meeting may yet be moved if the supporter needs more time, but it is always more likely to happen if it was diarised during a positive meeting, than if you need to get in touch to seek the new meeting.
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It’s usually helpful to send the supporter a proposal, outlining what they talked about potentially giving. For many trusts this may have happened in advance of any meeting, and in considerable depth, but for many major donors and companies it is often easiest to send it following the meeting, once both parties are clearer on what the donor may want to do.
6 Close and thank
Once a supporter has confirmed they’d like to give, and how much, it can be helpful to arrange a (virtual) meeting to formally receive and thank for this gift. Sometimes it’s appropriate and helpful to include someone else in this follow up meeting, for instance the chief executive or a board member, because as a charity you feel it’s important to properly thank supporters who are able to help. If so, let the supporter know in advance that you’d like to arrange this so that everyone is clear.
7 Steward
Scheduling time to make existing donors feel great – to WOW them - will pay you back.
You now have a wonderful opportunity to stay in touch and help the supporter feel good about the difference they are making. This is a whole other topic in itself, but for now, suffice it to say that during 2020, that however busy you are, scheduling time to make existing donors feel great – to WOW them - will pay you back.
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What ideas did this give you that may help with any offers you hope to make soon to people who care about your cause?
Good luck. Let me know how you get on.
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Chapter 6 Leadership during the crisis – five essentials
‘Puyol said he was proud to perform the ‘water carrier’ role, as it was essential to helping his team function at the highest level.’
In 2016 I undertook a research project into leadership in fundraising as part of the Commission on the Donor Experience. Of the 16 very successful of the charity leaders I studied, a key thing I noticed that united them was that their primary focus was not about their own fundraising projects. It was not even donors or beneficiaries. It was about serving the team. They were far more ‘people-focused’ than ‘task- focused.’
In a way this seems obvious, but most of them were more extreme about this order of priorities than I’ve found many leaders are. In fact, one leader whose fundraising team has an outstanding, consistent track record of success across many years, was so focused on her team that she said ‘leadership is about being willing to die in a ditch for your team if need be.’
I appreciate this rhetoric sounds extreme, especially in these troubled times we are living in now. But at the time, I understood why she said it. I understood her sense of responsibility to her people, and that this comes before caring about fundraising tasks and results.
In the six weeks since the pandemic hit the UK, I have had the privilege of interviewing half a dozen more leaders whose teams are doing well in these difficult circumstances. Some serve causes obviously linked to the coronavirus and some are not. I recorded some of the interviews for my podcast, but not all. I simply wanted to know what they were focusing on and what any of us could learn from their approach. As in the research I carried out for that Leadership research in 2016, this pattern of extreme people-focus came through very clearly.
One leader I have learned greatly from over the last 10 years is Paul McKenzie. To keep this chapter relatively simple, I have decided to base it largely on the five key leadership ideas we talked about in a recent episode of my podcast. Occasionally I will refer to other examples, but for the most part this chapter is an explanation of the approach that is working for Paul at the excellent youth homelessness charity, DePaul. He is Head of Fundraising and Communications, with 23 people in the department.
I am not claiming this is the only way – leadership is as much an art as it is a science. And fundraising leaders need to solve so many problems right now, you could easily make a case to prioritise some other things needed in your situation. But what Paul said and why he said it struck a chord with me at this point of the crisis, and I offer it to you as food for thought to hopefully help or reinforce your approach.
‘My team have been amazing. They’ve got an emergency appeal out incredibly quickly. They’ve engaged donors we had previously struggled to reach… in really difficult circumstances, my team are absolutely smashing it.’ Paul McKenzie
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I interviewed Paul for Episode 23 of the Fundraising Bright Spots podcast. At a time when there are so many things a leader could give their time to, what, I wanted to know, had he decided to prioritise? He was emphatic in the importance of focusing on the right things, which for him were:
1 Wellbeing 2 Trust 3 Communicate relentlessly 4 energy 5 Focus
1 Wellbeing
The leaders I’ve spoken to recently have started out by talking about the challenges their people face personally. Right now our people are dealing with far more intense pressures than they’ve faced before. Some people in our teams are bereaved. Some are shielding. They are worried about the health of themselves and their loved ones. Many are having to manage really difficult responsibilities at home in terms of childcare. And being unable to leave their homes is incredibly tough for all kinds of reasons, for example if you are living in a flat alone.
For these reasons, Paul told me, the first priority of leaders during the pandemic, is the well-being of every person in your team.
Our responsibility is to care. Recognising this is the first thing.
And the next is to talk about it, and ask others to give it the attention it deserves.
• The well-being of team members is the first thing he asks his team managers about.
• And it’s the last thing he says at the end of all his meetings, so that he’s made it formally clear to everyone that nothing is more important than this.
• As with leadership in normal times, its important to recognise that everyone is different. Some people will be dealing with the pressures relatively well, and others will not. Good leaders tailor their approach to suit each person’s support needs.
• And it’s an ongoing process, rather than something that is fixed, so leaders need to continue to pay attention as people’s need for support change over time.
• And because Paul has made it clear to everyone how important well-being is, he has effectively recruited everyone to look out for each other, because some people might notice an early warning sign in a conversation that for instance may not be so obvious in a more business-like conversation with a manager.
(Some leaders are also using a buddy system. Di Gornall, Director of Fundraising at Centrepoint said that this extra option of providing someone with a colleague to check in regularly is also proving an extra level of support.)
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2 Trust
This point is linked to the first one, in that Paul seeks to reduce any unhelpful pressure people may feel, beyond their own desire to achieve the common goal, the charities’ mission. Paul said that with everyone working from home, juggling different family responsibilities, a key thing he’s explicitly told his team is that he trusts them. He has made it clear to them that he does not care how many hours they work, he just trusts them to get the job done.
As stated in the first section, its important to ‘have the team’s back’ and for them to know this. It helps meet a fundamental human need, the need for safety. In return, Paul has found people are working incredibly hard, in spite of such difficult circumstances.
The day it was announced that schools in the UK would be in lock-down, he spoke to everyone who was a parent and said he understood this would have an impact on their working hours. He particularly wanted to them to make him aware of when they would not be working, to reduce any unintended pressure about logging on when it is just not practical.
On the day I interviewed Di Gornall, Director of fundraising at Centrepoint, her charity had just received confirmation of a gift worth £300,000, which she told me is the largest single donation they have received in the 18 months that she has worked there. She told me she had not seen the application for the gift to the foundation before it was sent; and when the trust came back asking for an amended proposal for a larger result, she had not seen that new proposal either, even though it included a brand new area of funding.
She believes the current crisis means our fundraisers must be more agile and nimble, empowered to use their initiative more than ever. Interestingly, this means she needs to be even more trusting of her team than normal. She recognises this can be uncomfortable for the leader, to lose control and involvement in particular tasks, but is essential if people are to be dynamic and seize opportunities.
3 Communicate relentlessly
Paul mentioned the importance of lots of talking and listening – much more than normal during this crisis. He talked about how important it is to stay in touch and encourage others to do this. Obviously one way is to use established team meetings and structures.
• For instance, he has a 45-minute virtual catch up each Monday, attended by all 23 people in his team. In this, each person has a chance to answer two questions with everyone else. What are you focusing on this week? How was your weekend? He said that making time to share a little about people’s home life increases trust, authenticity and relationships. It also creates more laughter.
• He has a 90 minute virtual meeting with each of his line reports every two weeks.
• At the time of the interview, there were now five or six mixed discipline project groups that talk regularly to deliver certain priority projects.
• And the team are proactively scheduling social catch ups, including virtual coffee chats; lunches and Friday drinks.
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
Regular informal checking in
The other thing is to check in with people in a less formal way. Paul explained in our interview that he is checking in by messaging every one in this team of 23 at least once every seven working days. This is in addition to what their line managers are doing, and the line managers know that he is doing it. Sometimes people let him know they’re doing fine and other times they really appreciate the chance to chat, to share how they’re doing.
The unhelpful myth of Hollywood leadership
What Paul did not talk about was lots of effort put into inspiring, Churchillian speeches. None of the leaders I’ve spoken to in the last 6 weeks have mentioned this as something they’ve given any attention to. This ‘low key but frequent’ approach to communication is consistent with the leadership traits Sam Walker found in the most successful captains in sport history, that he describes in his excellent book Captain Class.
Contrary to the vision of leadership often portrayed in Hollywood, for instance, in the classic speech given by Al Pacino in the film Any Given Sunday, (or indeed, Shakespeare’s Agincourt speech in Henry 5th) none of the 16 most successful captains in the history of sport were devoting their energies to giving charismatic, rousing speeches. What they did instead was frequent, unglamorous, sometimes very brief communication with all of their team, where the emphasis was on both checking in and noticing how people were doing, and on sending short clear signals, repeatedly, reinforcing key messages of trust, support and focus.
In the book Walker describes a powerful conversation with Carles Puyol, who had been captain of the Barcelona football team between 2008 and 2013, which won an astonishing 15 trophies including four Spanish titles and two Champions League titles. Puyol’s uncharismatic leadership and communication style is the antithesis of the showy Hollywood ideal but crucially, Walker’s data shows, it works.
Puyol had been dismissed by an opponent (Eric Cantona) as a mere ‘water-carrier’, because his role in the team was to deliver the ball to more skilful game-changers like the fans’ favourite, Zinedine Zidane. In response, Puyol said he was proud to perform the ‘water carrier’ role, as it was essential to helping his team function at the highest level. Like Di Gornall, he was empowering others to get into scoring opportunities.
And contrary to what some would argue, Walker shows how this philosophy increased Puyol’s ability to positively influence the rest of the team. Knowing he had their back at all times, they were willing to work phenomenally hard.
4 Energy
‘I really understand people’s concerns about forced fun…I’m quite a cynical Scotsman, so I often worry about over- celebrating, but in practice what I find is that if we just keep going we’re always rewarded for doing it.’
Paul pays attention to energy levels and recognises how important it is in affecting morale and resilience.
When he worked at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, Paul was one of the leaders within a fantastically united and energised team culture, led and encouraged by Liz Tait who was the director of fundraising at the time.
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
The high levels of energy and impressive cross-team working were in large part the result of efforts that Liz, Paul and others made to deliberately encourage a culture of celebration and fun in a variety of ways. In a masterclass on leadership and culture that they did for the Bright Spot Members Club, they explained that this was largely achieved by asking the team what kind of culture they wanted, agreeing those qualities, and then asking the team for ideas and rituals to achieve them, leading to an amazing range of fun and silo- smashing activities, which paid dividends in forging a high performance culture.
Paul’s view is that even and especially during these difficult times, its important to encourage positive energy and playfulness in his team.
A key element of this is the strong signal he sends to his team that its important for everyone to celebrate what’s going well. They’ve always done this in the team, but in the last few weeks they’ve continued the habit of sending round an email on a Friday afternoon, which he starts, mentioning something he’s pleased about achieving that week.
A crucial distinction he makes, and models, is celebrating small things, not just the big results that seem impressive. Why? Because left to our own devices, its human nature to focus too much attention on results, but as all outstanding sports coaches know, you only get results by valuing the process, the doing of small things well, day in day out. Paul and his managers do their best to model this, catching people doing things right and celebrating those things.
Modelling and encouraging playfulness, celebration and ‘Celebrate people doing switching off at the appropriate time are also part of how the right things, not just you keep people’s energy levels going. So for example, at 4pm on a Friday afternoon, when its time for a shared team when they get the big drinks and unwind session, Paul said he makes a point of obvious wins. Make a being on time with a beer in his hand, and switching to a more playful tone. point of celebrating the He believes a reason some leaders shy away from this small steps.’ more playful, real mode is a fear that it can harm their ability to also deliver serious messages and decisions to the team. Paul’s experience is that as long as you’re clear of the context, and choose the appropriate style of leadership for that context, it’s very helpful to be able to be more relaxed and playful sometimes.
5 Focus
Recognise that you can’t spread your team’s efforts too thinly. Focus is power.
Your team is most likely to make the most of a difficult situation if they are clear on what they will and won’t give their time to.
But how do these decisions get made?
Paul’s process is to regularly listen to his heads of team, to hear what they think the strategic options might be, based on what they and their teams are learning from their activities and conversations with donors. To Paul, his job is ‘not to give direction, but to make decisions about direction.’
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
This is more important than ever at such unprecedented times, when it’s so hard to predict how supporters will react and fundraisers are learning new distinctions all the time. Leaders need to signal curiosity and openness about these developing insights, and factor them into new decisions about strategic priorities.
‘The leaders who succeed in today’s world are not so much chess masters as gardeners. They nurture and empower, creating the thriving environment in which their people can do what is needed to achieve the mission.’ Joe Jenkins, Director of Engagement, Children’s Society.
?
Whether or not you are a leader, what ideas did this chapter give you to develop your people skills?
As a leader, are there any valuable traits / behaviours you’d like to give (even) more attention to in the way you serve your team?
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
Chapter 7 Make time for learning
The Ripple Effect
‘Yes, we’d be really happy to partner your charity through this difficult time.’
Music to the fundraisers’ ears, as she finished the call with the company that had just agreed to a corporate donation / partnership worth £5000 with her charity, Diabetes UK.
Full credit to this proactive fundraiser who had found a way to do the sometimes daunting but powerful activity that we explored in Chapter 2 – she found a way to pick up the phone. In fact, in addition to the many things on her to do list, this was one of many proactive calls she had made that week.
You can never know for certain all of the factors which lead to a result, but one thing she said had really helped her was being a part of the virtual learning sessions that had been organised by her colleague Stevie, Area Fundraising Manager at Diabetes UK.
This was the second of the weekly sessions that Stevie, and her colleagues Lottie, Nicole and Teresa had arranged for the whole of the Diabetes UK fundraising team, spread across the country. In the first one, in the third week of March, they had delivered through Zoom an hour-long training session, on how to find and use more real examples / stories to bring their cause to life when communicating with supporters.
The session went down so well that they were faced with a new problem. When, their colleagues wanted to know when, is the next session?
Stevie could tell from how engaged people were during the idea-sharing part of the session, as well as from the enthusiastic response afterwards, that it had been worth the effort. The content she had prepared was a highlights package of techniques she and her immediate team had learnt on the Corporate Mastery Programme. But her problem was that putting it together had also taken quite a long time, and juggling home-schooling as well as the other challenges of her job in March 2020, time was in short supply. What to do?
She decided to organise weekly sessions, similar to the first one, but from now on the sessions would be divided into two parts. Firstly, at the scheduled time, everyone would listen to a particular episode of the Fundraising Bright Spots podcast, she’d carefully select an episode each week that colleagues in the Fundraising Management Team agreed was likely to resonate across the department. Secondly, she would host a virtual ideas session to discuss the examples from the episode and help people explore ways to put the ideas into action.
And on the 3rd April the episode that everyone had listened to was Episode 19 – How to inspire supporters – in which I discussed with the irrepressible Ben Swart, ideas and examples designed to encourage people to pick up the phone and call their supporters with more confidence. It was that learning session that helped Stevie’s colleague to make those proactive phone calls. On 6th April, one of those calls led to the £5000 partnership. Though this was a company that had supported the charity in the past, she said it was pretty clear that had she not made that call, the gift would not have happened.
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
Four ways learning pays you back
It can be hard to make time for learning and inspiration, but here are four ways it pays you back generously for what you invest.
In twenty years of studying the habits and beliefs of very successful fundraisers, I can tell you that they do not all share the same traits, but there is one thing I’ve noticed in them all, and it’s this. They value learning. Even when busy, they’re conscious of the importance of seeking out new ideas. However accomplished, they always believed there is more to learn.
And this was before the pandemic turned the world and our fundraising environment upside down.
And now? Finding time and courage to learn is now even more important than ever, for many reasons, but here for me are The Big Four:
1 ADAPT - Now more than ever, we need to adapt 2 PRIME - Learning positively primes your approach to problem solving 3 BOOST - A sense of progress lifts your mood 4 GRIT - Learners are more resilient than non-learners
1 Now more than ever, our charities must adapt or face the consequences
‘According to Darwin’s Origin of Species, it is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself.’ Leon C Megginson
To survive and even thrive in spite of the challenges we now face, we need to adapt our approach. We need to find new ways of doing things.
Notoriously, Blockbuster failed to adapt to the rise of streaming (even though the owners were offered the chance to invest heavily in Netflix); Kodak failed to adapt to the popularity of digital photography, even though their R and D team had led the way in developing the technology.
The fact that throughout history, many previously successful organisations have failed to adapt to changes in their environment, shows that change is not easy.
It’s not easy, but I don’t believe we can contemplate the alternative. And it’s even harder if we don’t deliberately embrace and encourage learning as a value, because left to our own devices, as human beings it’s all too easy to default to what we know.
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
2 Priming yourself to learn makes you more resourceful, day by day
One reason I believe it’s smart to regularly make time to learn, especially when there is so much bad news around, is what some psychologists have called the priming effect.
For instance, Professor John Bargh of Yale University found that if you have just held a warm cup of coffee for just two minutes, you’re more likely to judge strangers as having ‘warm’ rather than ‘cold’ personalities! Yes, really. Prof Bargh suggests ‘primes’ are like whistles that can only be heard by our mental ‘inner butler’. Once roused, these dutiful servants act on your pre-existing tendencies, making you more likely to follow those tendencies as your day unfolds.
I appreciate that this idea sounds far-fetched, but I imagine you’ve found that after hearing some bad news, you find it harder to react optimistically to other events later in the same day. And when you’re on a roll, you know it’s usually easier to be level-headed and positive when a new challenge comes your way.
I firmly believe that unless we take steps to expose our conscious and unconscious brains to positive ideas and examples during these troubled times, it will be extremely difficult to take bold action or notice potential opportunities as we go about our fundraising tasks.
This is consistent with the ideas we discussed in Chapter 1, inspired by Hal Elrod’s The Miracle Morning. In the book, he recommends that reading or listening to something encouraging or useful for as little as ten minutes each morning, has a positive effect on your brains’ ability to solve problems during the day.
3 A sense of progress boosts your mood
A key reason Stevie has continued with weekly learning sessions following the enthusiastic response to the first one, was that so many people told her it gave them a boost.
We find the same thing at the end of our twice-weekly live coaching calls for the Bright Spot Club. People leave more energised than when they arrived, both because of the sense of connection they get with other positive people, and because of the sense of progress they feel.
When we feel we’re stuck, that we’re at the mercy of events, your mojo shrinks and it’s harder to take confident action. When we learn something, when we feel like we’re making progress, it feels good, so it’s easier like Stevie and her colleague, to take action and reap the rewards.
4 Learners are more resilient than non-learners
In Episode 6 of the Fundraising Bright Spots podcast on Fundraising Resilience, I explain Professor Angela Duckworth’s findings that very resilient people invariably score highly on measures of ‘growth mindset’. In Carol Dweck’s best-selling book Mindset, she explains that when you have a ‘growth’ mindset (as opposed a ‘fixed’ mindset) you don’t see your abilities in any area as permanent. So whether its maths, fundraising, leadership or any other discipline in question, to have growth mindset means you believe you can always get better if you take steps to learn.
At a time when resilience / bounce-backability is perhaps the most important quality of all in fundraisers, it’s smart to make time for regular learning activities. Anything that reinforces and encourages a growth mindset helps us be more gritty.
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
What can you do?
Clearly there are lots of ways to step up our ongoing learning. Many are obvious - go on courses (once social distancing has stopped); get a mentor; sort out a simple plan for your development. There are lots of excellent tips from the quietly inspiring Liz Tait in Episode 9 of my podcast ‘How to create a career that makes your heart sing’.
And if you’d like ideas for content, here are my suggestions for some helpful books; podcasts, or if you’d like to really go for it, our online training and inspiration site, the Bright Spot Club.
1 Read books
Obviously there are many blogs that can help, but I find that going deeper into a subject to understand an author’s point of view usually rewards the extra time it takes.
One way to make the most of books for your charity is to organise a book club. Of course these work well for fiction, but they can also work well for books that might help your fundraising succeed. When he was Director of Fundraising at Solar Aid, Richard Turner used this to great effect.
In case you’d like ideas for a book to help your fundraising, here are ten that I have found helpful for my fundraising in the last few years.
A Made to Stick, by Chip and Dan Heath. Powerful influence ideas and stories, beautifully told.
B The Elements of Persuasion, by Richard Maxwell and Robert Dickman. Great ideas for influencing conversations with supporters.
C The Power of Moments, by Chip and Dan Heath. Inspiring book that helps you go the extra mile to create ‘surprise and delight’ moments, for stewardship and other areas of your life.
D Grit, by Angela Duckworth. How to understand resilience, and become more gritty.
E Gravitas, by Caroline Goyder. If you’d like to improve your personal presence, confidence and gravitas when you meet people, this will help.
F Change for Good, by Bernard Ross and Omar Mahmood. A great summary of how to apply the ideas of decision science and behavioural economics to fundraising.
G Switch, by Chip and Dan Heath. How to help people change, when change is hard. Especially helpful for influencing colleagues, which is sometimes the hardest thing of all.
H The Miracle Morning, by Hal Elrod. An unashamed self-development book which helped me improve my morning habits, and therefore my energy levels.
I The Culture Code, by Daniel Coyle. A fascinating exploration of how to improve culture in teams. excellent read, whether you’re a leader or not.
J Captain Class, by Sam Walker. Exploration of seven traits of effective leaders, through the study of the 16 most successful sport captains in history.
And if you’d like to try my book on having more confident, successful conversations with supporters, it’s called The Fundraiser Who Wanted More and is available from Amazon.
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
2 Listen to podcasts
There are now loads of great podcasts for charities. If you’ve not tried them before, go to a podcast provider like I-tunes, Spotify or Stitcher and explore! To get you started, here are three you might like:
• The Fundraising Bright Spots podcast
I’m mentioning this one first because if you’ve reached Chapter 7 – well done! - I hope you have found my ‘bright spot’ / story-led approach helpful. I carry this same approach through in my weekly show, with the intention of continually reinforcing your belief that progress is possible.
But clearly there are lots of great shows out there, and as with anything, it’s worth finding ones that suit your taste and interests.
• Do More Good
Currently in its third series and brilliantly hosted by Kenneth Foreman and James Wright, this show covers a variety of charity topics with great guests.
• Why do people give?
Mark Phillips, Director of Blue Frog, hosts this fascinating show. Since the pandemic started to unfold, Blue Frog has carried out in depth research into donor attitudes which, among other things, Mark and his guests explore on the podcast.
3 Bright Spot Members Club
If right now you’re more isolated than usual and you have tough problems to solve, and you want to learn at a deeper level, then a good option is to check out our online learning and inspiration site for fundraisers.
Here’s a link where you can find out more: www.brightspotmembersclub.co.uk/join
And here are some ways we help you succeed through the club:
A Interactive webinars / weekly live coaching sessions with Rob and other expert fundraising trainers, to help you solve your fundraising challenges, especially during the pandemic.
B More than 30 training bundles, on a wide range of topics, including brand new pandemic-defying bundles, from powerful Major Donor Strategies to Winning Hearts and Minds, with new content added throughout the year.
C Positive, supportive community – because we know fundraising is hard when you feel isolated.
D Bright Spot LIVE and WOW Your Donors - Free access to our inspiring full day training events, when social distancing is no longer necessary.
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
‘I couldn’t have joined at a better time. I’ve been finding these training bundles and the advice in the live coaching sessions since the pandemic started incredibly helpful already.’ Tanushree Srivastava, Corporate Partnerships Manager, The Diana Award.
‘I’ve been a member for 18 months. With this support we’ve won a partnership worth £500,000, so if you’re thinking about becoming a member, do it and do it today. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.’ Sue Piper, Head of Fundraising Kent Association for the Blind.
?
What ideas do you have to add learning and inspiration to your routine?
Is there a book you’d like to order? A podcast to try? Want to check out the Bright Spot Members Club… or pilot a learning session with your colleagues like Stevie did?
If you have ideas for helping colleagues to build their learning habits, who could you talk these ideas through with?
Let us know how you get on or if you’d like to explore the idea of a (virtual) training day for your team, or if you’d like to find out more about our Major Gifts or Corporate Mastery Programmes.
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
Finally, a favour…
Over the last few weeks, I’ve again experienced the feeling that deciding to write a book can ‘seem like a good idea at the time’…And that, even to finish a short book like this one, it usually takes more late evenings than you intended at the start.
So now that it is seeing the light of day, it would make me incredibly happy to know that it was worth the effort, that it is now getting in front of as many fundraisers as possible.
So I’d like to like to ask for your help. If you’ve found it helpful, please do me a huge favour and spread the word. I’d really appreciate it if you would share it with your colleagues and on social media.
You can find me on twitter - @woods_rob – and on Linked In. And I’m always so happy to hear and help celebrate stories of your progress.
Thank you so much.
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Power through the Pandemic
Seven ways to raise funds with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now.
Want to go deeper?
If you’re curious about trying our Bright Spot Members Club, our in-house training days or the Major Gifts Mastery or Corporate Mastery Programme, you can find out more info, or get in touch for a quick chat, through our website www.brightspotfundraising.co.uk
Here is what other fundraisers have said about how these courses have helped them.
‘I’ve found the Members Club incredibly helpful. For example, within 6 weeks of applying the strategies from the ‘Win That Pitch’ bundle, three members of my team had won partnerships worth over £10,000.’ Dan McNally Head of Regional Development Muscular Dystrophy UK
‘The Corporate Mastery Programme fundamentally changed the way I approach corporate fundraising... I’ve rolled this approach out to our whole Regional Corporate team and we’ve seen growth of over 60% this year.’ Holly Austen Davies Alzheimers Research UK
‘I have used what I learned on the Bright Spot training day with my new team and regional income in my patch has increased by 210% in 14 months. These techniques help you get results.’ Becky Francis Head of Regional Corporate Partnerships Stroke Association
‘The Major Gifts Mastery Programme was so valuable to me. In my first year in major donor fundraising, it helped me exceed my budget target by more than 40%. These techniques work!’ Lynda Harwood-Compton Major Donor Fundraiser Animals Asia
www.brightspotfundraising.co.uk – Learn more, enjoy more and raise more.