Nonprofit Fundraising is Education

Nonprofit GrowthDevelopment
Written By Sherry Quam Taylor
Image of a nonprofit leader giving a presentation to a potential donor, telling the financial story of the organization

We’ve put the idea that “to make programs grow, you must restrict funds to PROGRAMMING” behind us by now, right?

We know this statement isn’t true...

But, I know lots of you must continually educate board members and donors about this concept.

 

I’ve worked with nonprofits that received big (like, really big) unrestricted gifts -- and quickly restricted that money to program growth.

 

Not much time passed before some of those organizations were in the RED again.

Now, I know that gift arrived and showed so much promise in changing more lives, creating more impact, and realizing more mission impact.

 

But, what if more of it had been invested in overhead? You know, things like:

💥Administration

💥Operations

💥Finance

💥Planning

💥Fundraising

💥Infrastructure

 

How would you have convinced your board? What would your answer be to donors?

 

Today, I challenge you to stop the narrative of “Investing in overhead isn’t sexy” or “Everybody wants to fund a project they can see and touch.”  

 

This is not true. This is a skillset issue on your development team. There are many donors who WANT to give unrestricted dollars.

 

Leader - If your team struggles to secure regular gen-ops gifts, you need to look at what's really behind that…

  • Do they know how to lead donors through your financials?

  • Do they know how to solicit investment-level donors?

  • Do they know how to articulate your multi-year growth plans? 

  • Do they welcome ‘the numbers’ conversation or avoid it?

Despite what so many say….Fundraising IS Education.

 

Start telling the financial story of your organization. You’ll double your revenue. I see it all the time. And if you think your team might need this training you can apply to work with me here.

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

👣 Follow me on LinkedIn where I share insider info daily — the same lessons I teach my clients about attracting larger gen-ops dollars and diversifying revenue. 

🍎 Grab FREE Guides + White Papers — download robust resources you can use to push against the sector’s misconceptions, equip your board, and shift your team into High-ROI fundraising.

📈 Work with me to diversify revenue & secure the gen-ops gifts you need to grow. If you’re a business-minded nonprofit CEO with big growth plans but need to make charitable revenue from investment-level donors a bigger part of your budget, 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
Previous

Equip Your Nonprofit Development Team to Fundraise with a More Practical Approach
Next

Nonprofit Fundraising: How Your Development Team Can Secure Unrestricted Gifts