Nonprofit is a Team Sport

I had the opportunity to attend a client’s annual gala last night. It was really well done. Nice cocktail hour on the patio, lovely dinner, twenty-minute program and a final “fund-a-need”. They raised over $100,000 during the dessert course. No auctions, no honoree. There is something to be said for minimalism.

I have been sitting on commissions and boards of directors literally since I was seventeen years old. I have attended more than my fair share of galas. So, what made this relatively low-key event so successful? Quite simply, it was the level of buy-in that the staff has created with the donors and stakeholders.

The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) has been saying “fundraising is a team support” for years. I’d like to suggest that the metaphor is actually more appropriate for the organization as a whole. Being a nonprofit is a team sport. Nonprofits can bring together communities and foster a sense of pride and unity around the impact of their mission.

Organizationally, this requires a close integration between the fundraisers and programmatic staff, which frequently does not happen in nonprofits. The program people are terrified the fundraiser will want them to ask someone for money, so they isolate themselves. And yet, it’s the program people who are actually accomplishing the mission that are precisely the folks that the donors want to see, hear from, and connect with.

This is where the CEO, Executive Director and/or Head of School comes in.

Another of our clients, a private school, has some of the most passionate, engaged faculty I’ve ever met. I don’t even have children, and yet meeting with members of that faculty convinced me that I would donate to that school. And, the Head of School understands that. She ensures that the teachers are “the voices” of their fundraising campaigns.

As the Chief Executive, the leader of the organization has a mandate to ensure that everyone plays together and understands that a key to effective fundraising is to tell the story of the mission.

Operators must be part of the fundraising story.

We promise we won’t make them ask for money.