In all fundraising organizations there need to be more than just a ‘fundraising department’. I have often said that for fundraising to be effective it needs to be a whole organization culture rather than just a single department. However there are lots of things that are needed to be an effective fundraising department.
Owning the Business
This is basic. Raising funds for the sake of raising funds is an empty experience akin to simply working to get a pay check. I know that it happens and that very few of us actually look in the Bathroom mirror in the morning and say I am really looking forward to going to work today, even though it is a great ideal. Likewise it is an ideal situation that enables us to actually be focused on what our organization does and to have that as our primary focus within the realm of what we do. “I don’t raise funds I enable our frontline support staff to do what our mission statement says we do”. I once worked at a hospital where some of the research was funded by us actually developed a new treatment for a particular condition, it was a world breakthrough and we, in fundraising, took great pride in saying ‘WE’ were part of the team that did it. And … the researchers at that particular place were happy to acknowledge that without the funding from the fundraising department it would not have happened and so it really was a ‘we’ experience.
A fundraising department that is separated from the bottom line of what we are raising funds for becomes a ‘Pawn brokers shop’ and all we do is money-raising. Once you have become engaged with your organizations mission you have gained one of the two vital components of becoming an effective fundraiser.........
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