The Great Nonprofit Reframe (Cost vs. Investment)

DevelopmentNonprofit Growth
Written By Sherry Quam Taylor

Nonprofit CEOs and board members, let me ask you this: Can we do a big (alright, HUGE) reframe in our sector, together?

Here’s what I’m proposing... cost versus investment.

A real-life example: The first time I invested in a coach to help me with a sticky part of my business, I was terrified by the cost. My finger hovered over the send button on my “YES” email for longer than I’d like to admit. 

How’d it work out?

  • My 2nd coach… cost 4X

  • My 3rd… cost another 10X

  • My 4th… you get the picture

Now, I don’t flinch when I see the cost. The value and results each have provided has been beyond transformational.

The Deepest “Cost” Is in a Non-Investment Mindset

Here’s the truth: Hiring someone who can help me grow my business doesn’t cost me anything. Every time, it’s been an INVESTMENT with a high ROI.

This is the reframe we need to make as a sector. Why? Because seeing every outgoing expense as costing you something versus anticipating a return on investment is only keeping you from growing.

A perfect representation of this is desperately needing a brand refresh and choosing not to go with the lowest bid. Spending $50K when your budget was $20K, because you knew it was the right thing to do. I’ve seen this exact scenario be instrumental in tripling the annual revenue of an organization. 

You see, it cost the organization nothing. But the investment resulted in everything.

Honestly, it’s the hardest conversation when I hear, “I’d love to hire you, but it’s not in our budget this year.” I get it. The “cost” isn’t in your budget. But, my clients regularly add seven figures of revenue to the bottom line. 

I know. Easy for me to say. But, if you do the work, you get investment-level results. Take a page from my client’s book.

From Red to Riches

A few years ago, when he became the leader of his nonprofit organization:

  • They’d been in the red for years

  • He felt like his entire team was leaving money on the table

  • There were individuals giving, but none of them were giving their best gift

  • They had a diverse donor pool, but simply didn’t have enough money to invest in growth

And now, 24 months later, he’s running a completely different organization…

  • In the black, raising millions more

  • High-ROI-producing fundraising team

  • Active board members introducing the mission to six-figure investors

  • Serving more people than ever before

What Did It Take?

I showed him how he could reimagine his overall approach to revenue generation, so he could empower his board and staff to start doing the things that yielded greater results. Now, everyone within the organization knows how to align their hours with dollars and confidently lead donors to their best gift.

But, here’s what I really want you to hear. The change he made has way less to do with changing the fundraising activities.

It has way more to do with removing everything in your way that’s BLOCKING revenue generation. These are the things that keep you from having true, investment-level conversations with donors. They are the things that keep you from financing your entire mission.

I’m serious. Traditional fundraising activities are second. The root of the problem must be fixed first.

What would an additional seven figures of revenue mean for your organization? Let’s talk about it!

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

👣 Follow me on LinkedIn here where I share the same lessons I teach my clients about attracting larger gen-ops dollars and adding 7-figures + to their bottom line. 

🍎 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 restricts gifts and keeps your staff from reaching their full fundraising potential. Here to get it.

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

Sherry Quam Taylor

Sherry Quam Taylor works with growth-minded Nonprofit CEOs who are scaling their organizations but still need larger amounts of general operating support to truly grow. She breaks their teams free from the limitations of transactional fundraising and helps them reimagine their entire approach to revenue generation.

The high-performing leaders Sherry works with want to find and secure more unrestricted revenue from investment-level donors. They simply need more funding to do what’s in their Strategic Plan. To achieve this, she transforms their teams and boards into high-ROI revenue generators - revealing how they can align every hour they spend fundraising with new principles that double and triple donation sizes.

As a result of learning her methodology, Sherry’s clients regularly add 7-figures of gen-ops revenue to their bottom line by learning how to attract investment-level donors that WANT to fund their work. But the biggest transformation they experience is knowing the exact strategy, path, and team that will propel them to generate the 2-10X dollars their strategic plans require.

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

https://www.QuamTaylor.com
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