Michelle Stein ran the first Mensch Academy training on how to Build Your Fundraising Strategy. A fundraising consultant and trainer specialising in high-value fundraising from major donors, corporates, trusts and foundations, Michelle provides her Point of View…
If we knew there was enough money, what would we do differently?
I recently met with one of South Africa’s leading management consultants. She works for the country’s biggest corporate foundations, measuring the impact of their funded programmes.
After 30 years+ in the sector, she concludes: There’s enough money to fund projects. That isn’t the challenge. The real problem is not enough organisations think big to solve problems at scale.
Her words surprised me. It seemed counter to the narrative that there’s never enough money. So, if we know there’s money but it’s about solving problems at scale, what can we do differently to attract funding, especially as a small not for profit organisation.
Here are five suggestions:
1 Hold a big vision
Go back to the drawing board and start thinking big. What would it look like if we scaled this? What would we need to reach even more? If we believe there is money, what’s stopping us from making this happen? Once you’ve created that big vision, start talking about it. Even if your income or activities don’t yet reflect it, continue to believe in and communicate the big vision you imagine and are working towards.
2 Collaborate with others
Partner with organisations doing similar work or adjacent work — align with others. Uphold the saying, ‘If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together’. Funders love collaboration because impact is multiplied, skills are complemented and new solutions become possible. More funders are also increasingly pooling funding into donor collectives to maximise funds and share learnings. If donors are doing it, they want to see organisations doing it.
3 Follow the data
Use actual data and impact measurement to show why your solution works, not anecdotes or stories. It means investing in and valuing impact measurement not as a nice-to-have but as a necessity for securing funding. Daniel Kahneman’s book ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’ details how people make decisions. It reveals that people make decisions based on emotion, and then use facts, figures and logic to justify and explain their decisions. Organisations need stories to draw funders in, but they also need data, for donors to explain why they funded a particular solution.
4 Develop partnerships
Big, long-term funders appreciate being valued as partners in tackling society’s biggest issues. So we must move away from seeing them as an entity to be contacted once a year or as a necessary evil. Find out what they value, and then communicate what’s in it for them as a partner. Once they’re on board as a funder, it’s about finding ways to bring them closer to the work. This involves much more than a once-a-year report. Regular phone calls, meetings, reports, events, cards and other touch points will demonstrate that they’ve made a wise investment.
5 Invest in your organisation
Despite our organisations solving some of the most complex societal issues, we expect them to run on a shoestring. We accept big spending on innovation and development in the for-profit sector because the outcome is a great product. But, in the charity sector, we limit spending because it may feel reckless even if it means we cannot achieve our big vision.
Invest in your organisation; the scale of your work demands it.
For more from Michelle go to https://www.handmadefundraising.com/
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• Published in the May 2024 issue – Click here to start reading.
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