Holly and I share the belief that fundraising is world-changing work. We also share the opinion that what is expected of partners such as Good Works has fundamentally changed. No longer will our sector tolerate the perverse incentives that have historically driven the profitability of her competitors. Today’s standards are higher. What was most evident to me, and what every client deserves, is a partner who will jump into the fray; bring everything they have to the table; and, no matter how messy the process, allow the tension to inform remarkably effective fundraising strategies.

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Burt is one of a several of leaders who have described their team as being at the top of their game in last year, and as a result, their organizations have not suffered financially as some may have thought they would. In addition to these strong reports, I believe that there might be another side to the story; perhaps while we were all on our best behavior, our donor communities were as well. Not only am I hearing that our donors were especially generous with their support but they apparently picked up and returned phone calls, and they afforded those of us on the receiving end a level of engagement that we may not have experienced before. I bet this translates into far more meaningful work than what some of us are accustomed to.

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As of late, every conversation we have on the podcast is a glimpse of what we have learned in the midst of a pandemic. In between the lines of our conversation today with Di, what Theresa and I heard was that recovery will be all about creativity and the search for genuine ways to integrate our donors into the lives of our organizations. Our conversation begged the question of whether conjuring up another gala or golf tournament will cut it or if, instead, our donors will insist on opportunities that engage them in things that bring real joy and meaning to their lives.

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You've heard me say that I don’t believe we have a fundraising problem so much as a supervisory problem. The conclusion I have come to is that supervisors have to create environments where fundraising can thrive which often means knowing what to measure, when to give feedback, and when to celebrate success. The supervisor who knows how to do these three things is the boss that fundraiser's should be eager to work for. This was the conversation that I had today with Matthew who is recruiting a major gifts role at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi.

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All of the guests on the podcast come prepared for curveballs; and, in today’s conversation, Brock was batting like a pro. As the guy who has literally written the book on digital fundraising, I wanted Brock’s take on why so many wizards in our space have hang ups with our friends at Charity: Water. Reflecting on what Brock had to say, rather than getting ourselves tied into knots over how they manage their checking accounts or that they opted out of direct mail, perhaps what we should expect of such organizations is that they be radically transparent about what they are learning from their bold moves.

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Hannah and I have evidently been wrestling with the same question lately. The essence of our question is this; rather than merely being concierges for the rich and powerful in their pursuit of personal philanthropic interests, how can we play a more radical role in the redistribution of money? And, what if by changing the rules of how the game is played, could we recruit a radically diverse and extraordinarily powerful new generation of fundraising leaders who want to write an entirely new playbook on how fundraising really works?

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Kat came prepared to talk about moves management; however, once we managed to get her off script, we discovered real gold. Kat’s experience has taught her that the story we are often told doesn’t translate into reality, and she believes that fundraising has become a lot of tell and not enough show. Kat believes we need to get better at showing our donors “the who” of what we’re doing and she knows very well that any thing that merely resembles arms-length fundraising isn’t going to cut it.

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As the trial of Derek Chauvin has been playing out in the news, many of us have been reminded of the tragic events that occurred in Minneapolis last summer. Theresa and I were grateful to talk with Minneapolis resident Noah Gerding who has taken time over the last year to seriously reflect on what all this has meant for him personally and professionally. Our conversation with gNoah begs the question of whether it’s time to shine the spotlight on fundraising in hard places where those on both sides of the exchange have an opportunity to show up in very meaningful and authentic ways.

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Now that we are seeing light at the end of tunnel, it is a good time to begin thinking about how we can better prepare ourselves for the next unforeseeable event. Like it or not, this doesn’t mean investing in anyone’s promises to predict the future nor does it mean counting on someone else to create a rainy day fund for us. This was the conversation I had with Cherian today and I appreciated his take on how we might convince more in our space to think further ahead rather than being so focused on the immediate and short-term.

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This conversation really had me wondering if all this chatter about overhead for the last decade or so has had us all too focused on financial indicators rather than whether our organizations are actually changing lives. As I shared with Matt, my experience has always been that the donor is far less concerned about overhead ratios than whether the program actually does what it says it does.

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The stars certainly aligned on this one; Erica came prepared to talk about grit, which is a subject that we have not yet talked about on the podcast. For those not familiar with psychologist Angela Duckworth’s work, she defined grit as the "perseverance and passion for long-term goals.” Our conversation today had me wondering whether all the chatter about donor-centricity and renewal rates hinders us from developing the grit that is important in getting done what can be really hard work.

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Michael and I found it humorous yet somewhat disturbing that just days after the pandemic became our current reality, some of the largest consulting shops in our space had all types of solutions designed specifically for just such a catastrophe. As we’ve haven’t experienced a similar event since the Spanish flu in 1918, how is it that some of our most esteemed experts had experience to go on? It seems that in more ways than one our sector is searching for a different kind of fundraising expert, perhaps one who doesn’t feel compelled to have all the answers.

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It will perhaps always be an uphill battle to convince some in our space to not rely on consumer logic to guide their fundraising practices. This was the gist of my conversation with David today as we discussed why nonprofits should parts ways with being a “merchant of perks”, selling illusions of influence, and pitching opportunities to restrict their giving.

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Our faiths afford us a framework for reconciling a donor’s decisions if they don’t quite go in the direction we’d like them to or if we find it necessary to walk away from an opportunity that’s hard to pass up. I was reminded that it’s often our faith traditions that help us eliminate the angst we may have towards those who have more affluence than we believe they should.

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Our team at Responsive Fundraising are betting on an all out qualitative turn in how fundraising practices are evaluated in the post-pandemic economy. Unless you were living under a rock for the last twelve months, the pandemic driven home the fact that it’s the quality of relationships, not the quantity, that ensures we achieve our goals.

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My conversation today with Mark reminded me of the quote by David Whyte who says, “...the conversation is the work.” When it comes to meaningful gifts, often the best thing we can do is put the technical expertise on the back burner.

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If we were to take a page from Laura’s new book, we would have to reckon with whether we have done our part to create space where meaningful relationships can form and where greater levels of trust emerge.

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EAB’s curious chameleon study sought to identify and characterize the elusive high performing major gift officer in today’s competitive job market.

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