Philanthropy Is for the Optimists: How to Build a Shared Sense of Purpose

Be real, but believe.

To remain an optimist as a fundraiser, you must be real especially about the challenges of philanthropy today:

• The percentage of giving households has shrunk from 75% to 45% in the past three decades.
• The number of nonprofits in the United States has doubled in the past 25 years
• Donor attrition has never been higher
• Fundraisers report their greatest challenge is “getting the first appointment” with a prospective donor

Many board members and organizational leaders are unaware of these megatrends. They expect more money to be raised this year than last year, sometimes much more. When fundraising totals fall short of expectation, they ask, “What’s wrong with the advancement team?”

It is far less likely that leaders have been done wrong by advancement and more likely that their expectations don’t align with philanthropic realities:

• Philanthropists now take a greater interest in causes that more directly address the issues they find the most relevant
• Too much emphasis has been placed on asking, and too little on building a community of shared purpose that will be receptive to your requests
• Leaders are still trying to get donors to subsidize your organization, not optimize its most effective service delivery functions
• They’re hoping for bigger gifts, not putting forward rationales for larger investments
• Their organization is overweighted in tactical execution but underweighted in emotional intelligence
• They are not offering a variety of options that show donors how they can give through your organization to create a better world

Yet, in the face of all of this, it is incredibly important for those of us in the social-good sector to build on what we believe:

• The best in human nature will persist and prevail
• The greatest difficulties bring out the best in the best of us
• Many will continue to express their philanthropic gratitude to organizations that have helped them and their loved ones, clearly improving the human condition
• Many will continue to invest in improving the lives of those whom they will never know
• Many will continue to contribute to causes that try to correct social ills
• Supporters will make sure that capital in all forms will continue to gravitate to the most compelling possibilities

Believe that there will always be such people.

There always have been.

There always will be.   

However, we must appeal to the virtues of such people and not seek to bend them to lesser purposes and mundane needs. To do that, we have to step back from this frenetic whirling around we all seem to do in the name of fundraising and look afresh at the assumptions on which we have built so many fundraising practices. We need to ask, “Is it all designed to bring out and reinforce the best in human nature?”

The Questions Optimists Must Dare to Ask

In order to build a shared sense of purpose, the optimists among us (and, yes, even the brittle pessimists) should ask hard questions about our fundraising-focused processes and goals.

1. Are we staying true to our mission?
2. Have we become more fixated on raising money than converting money into mission advances?
3. Have we fallen into the trap of asking for money to keep our operations afloat rather than projecting how we could better serve?
4. Do our strategic plans look more like wish lists for internal stakeholders than societal commitments?
5. Are we staying true to our values?
6. Have we made accountability and stewardship our guiding principles, seeking to ensure all those who work for us embrace these ideals, or do we think of stewardship as a toothless, thanking office in advancement?
7. Have we let short-term pressures get in the way of imagining and inventing more lasting innovations?
8. Are we staying true to our supporters?
9. Do our fundraising menus reflect our wants more than the beliefs of those who will give most generously within their means?
10. Have we identified and sought out the talents of those whose services we could never afford but who would happily serve our highest purposes?

Such objective reflection is the first step toward building a stronger community of shared purpose—and that goal, not raising more money this year than last year, will allow organizations to surmount challenges and deepen constituent engagement. 

Be Real About Your Relationship with Donors

To understand the process of community building, let’s liken it to the development of an important interpersonal relationship, particularly one that is under strain. In such situations, it takes the bigger person to reflect on what has gone wrong, to see how their actions, albeit inadvertent, have contributed to the growing distance between them and those they value. 

So, if that is you, what do you do to begin to correct the course and get the relationship back on track?

• You share your reflections and regrets with the person you want to keep
• You invite their candor and ask how you can improve the relationship
• You listen, seeking to understand and empathize, not defend
• You suggest and internalize their suggestions on how to create stronger alignment going forward
• You stop making decisions on your own and informing your partner what you want from them, and you start bringing each other into conversations that will lead to mutual agreements
• You become more mindful about your tendency to take the other for granted and try to express your appreciation more often
• You commit yourself to being more open and more vulnerable with them
• You take greater care in making promises and, when you make them, greater diligence in seeing them through
• You notice that things get better if you have a good partner; if they don’t, you look for another

Good donor relations are nothing more than good human relations writ large. The same precepts apply. When we assume that one is markedly different than the other or that we can do something in the name of fundraising and donor relations—like plot how we can bend supporters to our will—that we as conscientious people wouldn’t dream of doing in an interpersonal relationship, we sow the seeds of division and mistrust.

Show Supporters You’re a Trustworthy Partner

As with our most intimate interpersonal relations, donor engagement and donor relations must be oriented toward sharing a brighter future together. That must be evident from the very beginning. Organizations must:

• Begin the process by listening, then seeking conceptual alignment
• Offer optimistic and attainable goals and aspirations
• Show that their eyes are on the horizon and they are seeing what is coming with bright realism
• Commit to building philanthropic partnerships, not just securing gifts
• Project a promising societal ROI when requesting funds
• Help donors believe, belong, and better the human condition

If it is to reach its full expression, philanthropy should be about the search for better ways and promised lands. The greatest philanthropic commitments gravitate to optimists with a compelling plan and to those who show the determination to go after and stay after something big, important, and lasting. You can’t just want more for yourself or your organization; you must see a way of better serving a higher purpose through the auspices of your organization.  

As philanthropy evolves and becomes increasingly challenging, you must be able to describe where and how specific donated amounts, in part and in whole, will yield higher thresholds of achievement and you must become the “culture carrier” for your cause, someone who embodies what your organization stands for.