A lot of uncertainty out there right now and unfortunately many organizations are frozen in place and not sure how to move forward.
So before I continue, please watch this video. It’s not only calming but is also a metaphor for one of the ways your nonprofit can grow and thrive.
When’s the best time to plant a tree? A few years ago.
When’s the second best time? Today.
Every 5-7 years the economy goes into a recession. We’ve been there before. Which means we know what works and what to do to GROW even during tough financial times.
Sitting on your tush and doing nothing? Sending out emergency asks every Monday and Thursday? Cutting the budget to the bare bones? Praying that funder X reups this year?
That’s not how you thrive. That’s how you- maybe- survive.
Way back in 2007
I was a nonprofit CEO (and head fundraiser at the same time. Small shops FTW!) from 2007-2009. A really scary global financial crisis. Banks collapsed, the Madoff scheme, Bear Stearns went from a global behemoth to trading for a penny on the stock exchange.
People literally left their homes in the middle of the night never to return because they couldn’t afford the mortgage.
A hell of a time to become a CEO. I learned a lot during those years, the do’s and dont’s. I made mistakes and learned from those as well.
The most important learning: Stay in growth mode and stay away from poverty/scarcity mindset. Keep working towards thrival. Because survival mode not only sucks but it can be contagious. Everyone feels it, breathes it and gets stuck under its enormous weight.
Which is why I’m going to say something which will cause some (many?) of you to think I’ve totally lost it. But here goes:
NOW is a GREAT time to build and grow.
Today. And tomorrow.
The time to grow is now
Over the last few weeks I’ve spoken to ten nonprofit leaders. I won’t say I had to talk them “off the ledge” but I will say that their level of stress with the current financial climate is very very high.
But once we decided to look at the situation for what it is, we began talking about today and tomorrow. What does the nonprofit have to do to thrive?
When you begin talking in a positive tone and they see that it’s not all doom and gloom, suddenly there’s a shift. When you solve problems, alleviate pain points, start planning properly to move forward, good things happen.
Example: Last Sunday I had a one hour chat with a CEO. Their organization is about to start their big campaign of the year and they were worried about it succeeding. We talked thru the campaign, made sure they were following best practices and planned for success.
Two things happened:
- In a meeting a day later, the CEO spoke with one of their major donors. That donor gave 20% more than their usual annual gift.
- The campaign? Raised 17% more than the target.
This is not magic and it’s not luck. I want to remind you of something important:
No matter how bad it is out there, people still want to give!!! People want to do good in the world and they want to experience the joy of philanthropy. 🥳
If right now you feel stuck in the mud and you’re not sure where to start, here ya go:
- Breathe. Your supporters want to help. They want to be involved. They want to change their community for the better. You CAN surpass your goals.
- Keep communicating! The absolute worse thing you can do now is go silent! Let people know how their gift is making an impact. Share stories, impact data, testimonials, pictures, videos, blog posts, social media posts. You get the idea. When people see how their dollars are being put to good use, the next time you ask, they’ll be more in a mood to give.
- Keep fundraising! There’s no reason to stop asking (unless someone specifically asked not to be solicited for the next X amount of time). People may not be able to give right now- and that’s ok. But when they can they’ll give as generously as they can, assuming you’ve made them feel good with reporting and great gratitude (a lot more on that next week!).
- Pick up the phone! Now is a time to STRENGTHEN, not weaken, your connection with supporters and volunteers and foundation funders and corporate partners. There are people out there who believe in your mission, advocate for your cause, partner with you to create positive and lasting change. They need to hear from you and yes- you can be honest if things look a little dire right now. Don’t be afraid to share the good and the not so good.
Donor retention is down but it doesn’t have to be that way for you. Plant the seed today so that tomorrow your organizational tree will grow. And thrive.
P.S. One other reason why now’s a good time to fundraise. A whole mess of nonprofits have either stopped fundraising “(“we don’t wanna bother our donors”) or they’re sending out a barrage of emergency asks, which could annoy some people. Both of those can be taken advantage of if you play your cards right.
