Latest / Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for Startup, Small, and Growing Nonprofits / Nonprofit Fundraising: How To Build A Development Department of One (Ep 56)
Transcript
- Matt Stockman (00:00) Let's be real for a second. I talk to nonprofit leaders every single week and I hear the same thing over and over often. Matt, fundraising feels impossible because it's all on me. If you're already in the process of running programs and managing volunteers and paying the bills and leading the staff and constantly putting out fires, you know this feeling. Somewhere in the middle of all of that, you're expected to be a fundraising pro. if you feel like you're drowning, this episode is for you. We're gonna walk through how to build a development department of one so you can stop stressing and start raising more money. Welcome to the Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast. For startups, small, and growing nonprofits, this podcast exists to help you build your nonprofit from the ground up on a strong, sustainable foundation by providing the clear frameworks, the practical tools, and the real-world guidance that you need and can actually put into practice. I'm your host, Matt Stockman. I'm a nonprofit growth coach. I'm glad you're here. Here at Nonprofit Launch Plan, we believe that every successful nonprofit has to be operating at peak performance across six key areas. Those areas are leadership, fundraising, marketing, programs and services, operations, and finances. So on every episode of the podcast, we focus on one of those six core areas to help you create lasting impact in your nonprofit. Without all the unnecessary complexity. Now, before we dive into today's episode, if you like the kind of things you're learning and picking up from listening to the podcast, there's more of that in my free weekly email called the Nonprofit Launch Briefing. Each week I send out one meaningful email is about something different than the podcast, strategies, practical tools, fundraising insights. Real world guidance that you need for startup and small and growing nonprofits. So if you're serious about building a healthy nonprofit with real impact, I'd love to have you on the list. Just shoot me a quick email with a simple sign me up in the subject line. My email is matt at nonprofitlaunchplan.com. And again, I get it. Most people don't want another email in their inbox, but I promise I'll do my best to make this valuable. If you like it, sign me up in the subject line, send it to Matt. at nonprofitlaunchplan.com. Okay, so let's begin with a description of a scenario for you. I'd like you to listen and decide whether or not this is an accurate description of how things go in your nonprofit. The process of fundraising is more like a crisis response. You notice that the bank account is getting a little bit low. So panic starts to set in and you have to launch a campaign. Then once the crisis passes, your focus on fundraising gets diverted to other things, most of which might feel either more fun or more impactful, or more about the mission of your nonprofit until the next emergency. That is exhausting. And honestly, it is completely avoidable. Fundraising shouldn't be a crisis event, it should be a steady rhythm in your week. Which sounds great in theory, but your question could very easily be well, how do I put that into practice? And what does that rhythm look like so that I'm actually doing the right things to grow fundraising with the limited time that I have, since I can only be in one place at a time and only doing one thing at a time. So if your fundraising team is you, I'm glad you're here. You don't need to have a massive team to raise meaningful money. What you do need, though, is a system. And you need to let go of the idea that fundraising is something you only do when you have a spare moment. I'm gonna help you get that all set up in this episode. First, let's talk about what development actually means. We tend to think development directors spend all day asking for checks, but that is a myth. A good starting point for putting together a fundraising or a development plan is actually creating a daily and weekly rhythm of just four things. Those four things are one, identifying people who care, two, building relationships with them, three communicating to them the impact of your work. And then four, yes, making the ask. Only one of those is the ask. The rest is just relationship building, which should be a huge relief to you, right? In growing your fundraising, a lot of what you're doing is growing relationships, which makes the part where you invite people to join you financially, the ask, a lot easier. Now, one question you're likely asking is: as the executive director and the development department of one, Perhaps the only person who's focused on growing this tiny fledgling of a nonprofit at all, how much of my time should be focused on fundraising? The answer to that depends on where you are in your nonprofit journey. Remember back to episodes 39 and 40 of the podcast, where I lay out the five growth phases of every nonprofit. It's a tool I call the nonprofit flight path. And if you're in the end of phase two, the building consensus phase, or into phase three, which is the launch phase or first steps phase, ideally. And this is not an exaggeration. 70 to 80 percent of your time should be focused on fundraising. I've said this before, but this is where many leaders get tripped up. It can be really easy to when you get to phase three where everything is official and the dream you've always had to make an impact is starting to feel real. It's then that you can easily take your eye off of fundraising to do other stuff. And then you end up in one of two situations. One being you never fully build out a financial foundation at all. So the whole organization struggles to really get off the launch pad because any money that does come in, you're using to prop up programs that maybe you launched too early before you have the proper funding in place. Or the second scenario and worst case scenario is that your nonprofit ceases to exist within a few months of starting because you didn't have a plan and structure and hope that people would just somehow catch the vision and respond, but that doesn't happen. Ultimately, the problem you see in the world in that case, the one that you felt called to solve is still a problem. That is going unsolved because you're not around anymore. So if 80% of your time as the executive director of a new nonprofit is supposed to be spent working on fundraising, next question is likely, but what do I do? Like what does my work week need to look like? At a high level, repeatable processes and structures are key here. Fundraising can be really scary, uncomfortable, awkward, all the descriptors. And at the same time, it can also be exhilarating and exciting when you're starting to see success. But the reality is, fundraising is a grind. It can be grueling at times, just like any job. And finding a rhythm and a routine that you can build into your calendar with identified tasks that allow you to systematize it will help you keep the engine going. So that you will start to see dollars come in and success quicker. So if I was just launching a nonprofit, I would really tackle the four core elements that I talked about identifying people who care, building relationships with them, number three, communicating the impact of your work. And number four, making the ask. Those four elements. I would try to approach those in 25% increments. So let's do a little simple math. I said 80% of your time and attention should be focused on fundraising early on. So 80% of a 40-hour work week ish is about 32 hours. So for 32 hours this week, I'm gonna split my time evenly between those four things: the identifying people who care, building relationships with them, communicating the impact of our work. And then inviting them to partner and join with you. Other words, making the ask. That ends up being about an hour and a half on each of these each day. Now, this isn't science and it's not going to be perfect, but here's how I would kind of structure my time each day if I was in your shoes. I'm kind of a morning person, so I try to structure most of my mornings with time set aside for identifying people who care. And communicating the impact of the work and also maybe some relationship building. Well, what does that look like? Well, for example, from eight in the morning until around 11, you're doing things like harvesting in your existing circle your contacts, your colleagues, your professional connections, maybe even people who are pretty engaged on your social media, consistently connecting with your board and asking them for meaningful connections to people in their circle. And then making reach out connections to each of them. What business connections do you have around you? Or what businesses do you engage with consistently? Are there networking opportunities that you can plug into church partnerships that you can grow? Ask yourself in this window, who can you shoot an email to or text to in order to tell them about what is happening in your nonprofit and how you're making an impact? And listen, you might be asking at this point, how do I share? Impact stories. That's one of the four things to be focused on. How do I share impact stories? If I'm so new, we're not actually making any impact yet, which is a fair question. This is where I encourage you to pivot. If you don't have impact stories, then tell stories about the need. Describe the need. Paint word pictures about the need and what the impact would look like if it was fully funded. Take and share photos of the need. I'm working with a nonprofit right now that's launching a brand new initiative, a type of work they've never really done before. So they don't have the impact stories. So they're right in the middle of this exact situation. But what they can share is some pretty compelling language and photos of how desperate the problem is. In other words, they can open a story loop and the potential partner's mind about the reality of the need and the depth of the need. So that a potential partner can pretty easily see how their financial support early on can be a tipping point to that problem being solved once and for all. The goal here is to do your best to shoot for a consistent amount of time and focus on each of the areas. But we all know it's not going to be perfect ever. The biggest takeaway is to set aside time every day for this. That's always protected and is always a part of your routine. It is most important to keep this time protected. Everything, as the executive director, you know this, everything is going to be fighting for that time, and you're going to be tempted to flex it, allowing outside forces and influences to rob that time. And before you know it, you're going to look at your schedule in a few weeks. And maybe if you're lucky, 25% of your week might occasionally be focused on friend fundraising. And then you're struggling to make ends meet financially. So back to how I would set this all up if I was in your shoes. I'd spend the second half of my day, like 11 o'clock-ish on, building relationships with people and making asks, shooting to set up one or two in-person coffee meetings or lunches or virtual meetings each day. And as far as building relationships, this might look like each week I try for what I call the three two one routine. That goes like this: call three current supporters just to say thank you. There's no financial ass, there's no agenda. We're just building relationship by saying thank you. So do that three times, then two handwritten notes to volunteers or donors who may be celebrating a milestone, like a birthday or their one-year anniversary of being involved or some other significant date. And then invite one prospective donor or board connection to a coffee or a Zoom meeting to get their advice on a new initiative and to talk a little bit more in depth about a project that you're working on. Another relationship-building idea is the behind-the-scenes texts. See something great happening in your program, or if you happen to see something that illustrates the need you're hoping to meet with your nonprofits program, then snap a quick unedited photo on your phone and just Texted to a couple of key supporters with a message like, Hey, I thought of you when I saw this today. Thank you so much for making this possible. It builds connection without feeling like marketing. It feels more like a friend. Finally, when it comes to the fourth core element, making an ask or inviting people to partner with you. This is the most awkward and at least in the beginning, the most challenging for most people. And so it's going to be the easiest to skip over. And not do. I know a lot of nonprofit leaders who have identified loads of people who care about what their work is all about. They're good at creating and building relationships and they're good at sharing impact and need, but they're not very well funded because they can't get up the nerve to finally ask for the gift. Force yourself to get in front of some people each week where you're offering them the opportunity to partner with you financially. And if you're looking for more coaching on how to build your confidence and making that ask and getting your fundraising messaging clear and powerful, don't forget I offer a free mini course on my website that walks you through your fundraising messaging step by step. It's a workbook and five videos. It's all up there for free. Go to nonprofitlaunchplan.com and click the banner at the very top of the homepage to get it. Working more hours and late nights is part of the job from time to time, but it's not sustainable long term. So recurring rhythms and routines that are attainable and focused are the way to start the financial engine humming. Don't spend too much time obsessing over things like grants that you're not ready for or fancy donor databases, CRMs, complex automations. Forget the Fortune 500 stuff, just thank people. Tell your stories and build relationships. Now you might ask, what numbers should I be keeping track of? What if we keep it to these? one, how many new people did I make contact with this week? Two, how many donor conversations did I have? Three, how many impact stories did I catch? And four, how many asks or invitations to partner with us financially did you make this week? Now, hear me when I say this. It takes a minute to see results. The first month, maybe even two months, might feel really quiet, but relationships compound. A thank you call that you make today becomes a recurring donor, maybe even next year or farther into the future. But that trust is built over time. It's the small, consistent actions that create the big outcomes. Now, before we wrap up, let's do one quick sort of lightning round review of today's episode. If you're building a development department of one, don't overcomplicate it. First, remember that fundraising isn't a crisis response. It's a rhythm. If you're only raising money when the bank account gets low, you're always going to feel like you're behind. Second, development is about far more than asking for money. Most of the work happens before the ask. Identify the people who care, build relationships, communicate your impact, then invite people to partner with you. The last two podcast episodes, episodes 54 and 55, Talk in depth about the eight steps in the donor journey. Learn that, internalize it, and allow it to be a part of what you build your fundraising rhythms around. Third thing, if you're leading a small or a young nonprofit, fundraising isn't something you fit around everything else. In many cases, it is your primary job. a healthy financial foundation makes everything else possible. Fourth, protect the time. Put fundraising on your calendar every day and guard urgent will always try to crowd out the important. And finally, don't chase the complexity. You don't need expensive software or elaborate campaigns or a full development staff, especially at the beginning. What you need is consistency, thanking people, telling stories, building relationships, and then making the ask. And then repeat the whole process again. This week, I want to encourage you to take a look at your calendar. Ask yourself just one simple question: Does my schedule reflect the importance that I say fundraising has? If the answer is no, I want you to block out some dedicated fundraising time before anything else fills those spaces. It's small, consistent actions. They may not feel dramatic today, but over time, they're exactly what builds organizations that are financially healthy, sustainable, and positioned to make a lasting impact. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast. Remember, if you like what you're learning on the you can get more of it in your inbox each week. Sign up for my free weekly email, the nonprofit launch briefing. Each week I send you one meaningful email with something you need to be considering, thinking about, or working on as a nonprofit leader. And here's the deal: it's always something different than the podcast, never the same stuff. It's designed to help you lead smarter and grow your nonprofit stronger. And maybe avoid a few common mistakes along the way. If you're serious about building a healthy nonprofit with real impact, I'd love to have you on the list. Send me an email with sign me up in the subject line. That's all I need. Matt at nonprofitlaunchplan.com is my email, Matt at nonprofitlaunchplan.com. it for this episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for startups, small and growing nonprofits. If the podcast has been helpful for you today, would you please consider sharing it with another nonprofit leader who might be just getting started and needs some more clarity and help. Until next time, keep building wisely and keep making a difference.