Where your mission meets its match.
I had the great honor to spend a day with Seth Godin last week. At the event I asked a question about how to get board members and entrenched staff to really dive into fundraising. I was looking for advice on how to move some of my clients and members to swing outside their comfort zone to engage others in giving money.
My paraphrasing of Seth’s answer:
Many CEOs of social profit organizations don’t really know how to give and therefore struggle with the ask. The reality is some CEOs don’t understand what it means to have their work be art and truly give. Transactions pull people apart. Gifts pull people together. What may hold a staff back is the inability to relate authentically to the person who gets asked for money every day. The act of giving adds meaning to our work. And many social profit CEOs don’t often GIVE the investor or potential investor a way to feel good.
It’s our job to allow those we are inviting to support our work to “feel” something. And what social profit organizations really sell is the ability for their supporters, their investors, to feel good about giving and about the work being done.
The way we can give that experience is through authentic conversations that tell true stories about the good work being done and the real people being served. Communicating in a way that causes people to feel something is, I believe, the most important part of the asking process.
What worries me, and what Seth Godin mentioned in a story he shared, is that often people in the social sector are too worried about the pain of others knowing their finances, or their daily struggle or they don’t want to deal with the pain of telling the truth in some way. This prevents them from sharing their compelling story. It gets glossed over with a “we are doing fine” comment that causes the listener to feel absolutely nothing. Or, worst case scenario, it causes them to feel they are not needed.
I encourage you to embrace Seth’s list of ways to embrace the new American Dream (from page 33 of his newest bestselling book Linchpin) and allow your organization and the people you serve to be rewarded.
I invite you to:
…then see what kind of support shows up for your organization.
Bonus offer: I will send a copy of Linchpin to the first two people who email me requesting a book.
This week I’ll turn 50. When I was much younger — in my early 40s — it seemed 50 was a long, long way off. Now that it’s here, I’ve decided to do something significant to me and invite as many of you along for the ride as possible.
This year I’m giving my birthday to [...]
Those of you who know me well are aware that I focus my word choices, blog posts, Twitter posts, training language and any communication I deliver from a positive lens. I choose to take a look from the perspective of “What is working here?” and “What will it take to get from here to where [...]
Comment by Sandy Rees — September 1, 2010
Lori, what a treat to get to hear Seth speak! I would have loved to have been there too. Thanks for sharing his answer to your question. I think there’s some deep wisdom there. I particularly like the piece about “transactions pull people apart – gifts pull people together.” So spot on!
Sandy
Comment by Jess — September 1, 2010
Thanks for pulling us up with this post. I feel good (and inspired) just reading it!
=)
Comment by Betsy Baker — September 1, 2010
Lori, great stuff as usual! I especially like your “invitation” issued at the end. It dares us to get creative. :)
Thanks for sharing,
Betsy
Comment by Lori L. Jacobwith — September 1, 2010
Thanks for the comments & reading the post. Your comments inspire ME!
Comment by Greg McRay, EA — September 2, 2010
This is a critical message. Donors should be made to feel that they are sharing in the success of the organization. A great example of this is my daughter’s private school which was devastated by the Nashville flood this past May. We had a huge fundraising campaign over the summer. Not only did the school get rebuilt with much donated time, materials and labor, but we raised $2m cash from a very middle class community in just 100 days.
Comment by Lori L. Jacobwith — September 2, 2010
Greg, Thank you for your comment. And congratulations on what sounds like was an amazing fundraising campaign for your daughter’s school! Wow. Being clear about what we need and allowing our community to feel great about providing support to get there…it can be magical. Way to go!
Lori
Comment by Pamela Grow — September 2, 2010
So cool that you got to spend a day at a Seth Godin event Lori! Thanks for sharing! It all boils down to creating compelling story-telling and, more and more, transparency.