Fundraiser Education

"I have some good news … and some bad news." We've all heard that saying — and probably said it from time to time. And it's true — in life and in fundraising.

I've been asked to define the characteristics of a successful fundraising professional. To answer this question, I've thought about my own experience, the success of my peers and people I admire, and I've listened to what other experts in the field have said on this topic.

Here's the compilation of these ideas, which I hope will help attract new people to the fundraising profession, remind people now in the field what it takes to succeed, and help executive directors and boards recruit talented fundraisers.

A while ago, I was invited to be a guest lecturer at Brandeis University. As my friend David Mersky, managing director of Mersky, Jaffe & Associates, was introducing me, I put this question across various social-media platforms:

RIGHT NOW: Nonprofit people, what marketing tips would you tell a graduate class on philanthropy? I'm guest lecturing at Brandeis right now and would love to show the power of social media.

There was a lot of wisdom in the responses so I thought I'd share them with you. I'm including the links to the people who posted them.

Fundraising professionals who seek to work effectively with a supervisor must understand the strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, and personal management style of the supervisor. Subordinates need to think in terms of counterbalancing. This means you must evaluate yourself and seek to understand your abilities.

There are more than 1.5 million nonprofit organizations across America all competing for the nation’s charitable contributions. The average person is only willing to give so much to charity organizations each year, so it’s a battle to compel those individuals to contribute. To succeed, it’s vital that your charity has an edge. These business skills will help it gain the advantage it needs to thrive.

What I love about fundraising and not-for-profit management is the fact that you meet so many people who influence you along the way. Here are 20 lessons I learned from other professionals in the nonprofit fundraising field.

The fact that you care and are engaged enough to comment (even if you disagree with what you read) is so greatly appreciated.

Keep in mind a marketing plan is not the same as a marketing vision. Here are some helpful tips for creating a vision that is actionable, achievable and measurable.

Here are seven ways nonprofit CEOs and executives can easily integrate matching gifts and volunteer grants into a development strategy to help boost the organization’s fundraising: 1. Use annual fundraising appeals and website donation pages. 2. Include information in acknowledgment letters. 3. Talk to your volunteers. 4. Enroll in an online matching-gift platform. 5. Hire a matching-gift coordinator. 6. Promote (and keep promoting) via social media. 7. Beef up your email signatures.

Traditional nonprofit fundraising is broken. It locks nonprofits in an endless cycle of chasing low-return activities. A much better approach is to create a sustainable financial model that aligns well with your mission and core competencies. Nonprofits must move from fundraising to financing.

With that, here are seven ways to kiss fundraising goodbye: Connect money and mission, raise capacity capital, involve every board member, diversity fundraising, calculate the cost of fundraising, focus on message impact, and move from push to pull.