Fundraisers Must Constantly be Educators

Nonprofit GrowthDevelopment
Written By Sherry Quam Taylor

Recently I was sitting in an interview with a candidate for a potential leadership position within a nonprofit. This is a longtime client that's growing by leaps and bounds. And they'd identified a super sharp individual who’s coming out of corporate as a potential candidate.

And although the majority of the job description isn't fundraising, there will be some donor interface. The topic of fundraising came up twice  . . .

First comment: “I don’t want to stand on a corner and beg for money.”

And…

Second comment: “I hate begging companies for gift cards. I had to do that for my kids' school.”

You know, people wouldn’t hate fundraising if they actually understood what it REALLY is. 

My longtime client she was interviewing with? 

  • She’s exceeded her goal every year.

  • Doesn’t have a big gala.

  • Is fully funded half way through her fiscal year.

  • And she’s never done one of those things.

  • Raises MILLIONS each year through investment-level conversations.

Nothing against the candidate. She was phenomenal in many ways.

But, the point I’m making is only a very small percentage of people know what FUNDRAISING EVEN IS. These are cousin comments to board members saying, “I’ll do anything, but I’m not asking anyone for money.”

Fundraisers must constantly be educators.

Constantly.

Sometimes, it's exhausting isn't it?

Whenever you’re ready, here are THREE things you can do next:

👣 Follow me on LinkedIn where I share the same lessons I teach my clients about attracting larger gen-ops dollars so they can scale.

🍎 Read my GUIDE! THE TRUTH ABOUT GIVE/GETS :: Top 5 Reasons Your Board’s Give/Get Is Leaving Thousands (Sometimes Millions) on the Table. See how limiting board members to the Give/Get model keeps your staff from reaching their full fundraising potential. Here to get it.

📈 Work with me to fund your organization’s Strategic Plan and scale your budget by 2 - 5X // If you’re a business-minded CEO already raising MILLIONS but still need more general-operating revenue to invest in growth, you can apply to work with me here.

Sherry Quam Taylor

Sherry Quam Taylor works with business-minded Nonprofit CEOs whose Strategic Plans require expansive budgets and larger amounts of general-operating revenue for growth. To become investment-level ready, Sherry helps leaders see their revenue potential and helps them see what may be blocking donors from giving in this way. Sherry’s clients know how to attract larger donors by solving the funding challenges at the root of the issue.

As a result of learning her methodology, Sherry’s clients become sustainable, diversify revenue, and know how to add significant amounts gen-ops revenue to their budgets. But mostly, their development departments and board have transformed into high-ROI revenue generators – aligning their hours with relational dollars and set free from the limitations of transactional fundraising.

Sherry attributes the success of her business to her passion for modeling radical confidence to the future CEOs in her house - her two college-aged daughters.

https://www.QuamTaylor.com
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