The Music of Philanthropy

I have very eclectic tastes!  There have been those who have thought of me as a little strange because musically they vary between the Village People, Amici the Opera Band, Queen and Brass Bands with a smattering of Carpenters and Beach Boys thrown in for good measure.  I guess that gives away my age within a few years but I like to think I am a good wine.

Now the reason that I love brass bands is that I have played for many, many years in Brass bands of all sizes and quality.  It started in England when just a wee lad and I used to go to my Uncle Bob’s so that he could teach me.  Week after week I would prop the music up on the mantel piece and he would conduct with a pencil to encourage me with the rhythm and the timing.  Unfortunately all his efforts did not turn me into a musician of any great quality but somehow I developed a love of Brass bands that has stayed with me to this day.

Having played in a variety of combinations I have been privileged to appreciate the finer points and they come down to a very few characteristics.  No it is not the correctness of the playing, although that is very important.  Getting all the notes in the right place is vital and people practice for years to do that and go to great lengths to have all the notes almost perfect.  It’s not the rhythm or the tempo that is vital but all of these things are absolutely necessary.  It is not the choice of music that is played either it is something that is far, far more important than that. 

Many years ago I became familiar with a Salvation Army band in Australia when I lived there called the Melbourne Staff Band.  It was made up of some very special people who played together and were looked at as the leading band with really good players, great music but what was it that made the difference.  I went to their rehearsal one evening and in their rehearsal room was a big sign behind where the Bandmaster/Conductor stood that said in big letters that could not be missed that simply said ‘THINK ROUND’.  It was at that moment that I realised where this big, fat, round, sound came from.  They were all thinking in their head that every note they made had to be round.  I have no doubt that there were bands at the time that were more technically brilliant but what made this band stand out was its big sound, and it was electrifying.  So for me this was what made them stand out as brilliant; their sound.

Another band that stood out for me was a New Zealand Youth Band.  They were on a tour of Australia at the time and I was part of the organising group that heard them a few times.  Now here was a group of young people all under 20 from all over New Zealand brought together with only a few weeks to practice.  Technically again they left something to be desired but their success was heralded all over the place.  What they had; was a youthful energy that made everything they played full of excitement and emotion.  You could see that thy enjoyed all that they did and it looked like it and it sounded like it.

Over the years I have appreciated these two characteristics more than anything else in my listening pleasure of Brass Bands.

Now, what does this all mean for me as a fundraiser?  I have been a fundraiser for a long time In Australia and in the UK, and like many people I have asked myself, sometimes out of frustration, ‘Why do I do this?’  Now this is not a bad question to ask to help clarify in one’s mind the reasons behind what we do.  Nothing we ever do is a stand alone act but, because of …….’whatever it might be’- and so this question should ring loud and clear for us all.  ‘Why do I do this?’ 

As I indicated; I was just an average musician, so too as a fundraiser I would not make any claim to be better than average.  I have had some dramatic failures where I just did not have the skills, I have been fortunate to have also been in the right place at the right time where I was ‘lucky’ to work with some great people and a lot support was realised, but generally I have found it to be hard frustrating work, trying to fulfil so many peoples unrealistic expectations where you are expected to not only walk on water but reap harvests where nothing has been sown, and all this by next Friday lunchtime.  So why do I do it?  I could add another question on the end of it to also confuse matters ‘.. and why do I love it so much?’

Having been around for so long, with coming up for nearly 14 years in Healthcare Fundraising one really does have to answer some significant questions.  Like many people I never cease to be amazed at the number of educational offerings that are provided for fundraisers.  You can go and learn all about Individual Giving and Direct Mail, Planned Giving and Special Events, Fundraising Management; and so it goes on.  If we are to analyse most of the education that we offer it is almost all about technicalities, doing the right things in the right order for the right people for the right result.  Like most fundraisers who have been around for a few years, I have done my share of these courses and love the environment, so much so that I have would love to go back to University full time and sit under wise lecturers simply to learn and understand more about many things.

One of my favourite sayings is ‘there is no rocket science in fundraising’ and I have been at times quoted out of context, that I am not in favour of education.  Not true, and I would encourage all fundraisers, young and old, to get as much education as they can, you just simply have to have all the knowledge that you can get.  In all our organisations we need to be the authority on all fundraising matters, no question and one of the great things about the CFRE program is that it requires that continual learning to be ahead of the 8 ball in all that we do around fundraising.

But there is more …..

Like in my experience of Brass Bands, it is not just the need to be a technician, getting all the notes in the right place, at the right time and at the right tempo and volume, there is a need to have the sound right and the energy at the optimum level.  So how does this transfer to Fundraising?

Having been to more conferences and seminars that I can count and spoken at a few which is really fun, I have a collection of principles that have been promoted by various presenters from the exciting acronyms, to the involved principles revolving around how we do this ‘stuff’.  However I would like to boil it all down to one principle that I have found to be the genesis of why I do this and why I enjoy it so much. 

Fundraising Principle # 1: is Fundraising is all about people.

The source off my passion for this profession is the people, not just the people who benefit from the fruits of our labours, but the people who provide those fruits no matter how small or large they might be.

Over the years, I have made a point of asking as many of our supporters as possible why they give and recording the story behind the donation they have made.  No one gives away money for nothing and there will always be a reason why some one has made the donation.  On so many occasions in the fundraising office of the day, I have been moved by the story of some of reasons behind donations.  A woman comes to make a donation to a consultant who gave her husband an extra 18 months of life, and she tells the doctor that those 18 months were better than all the previous 14 years that they had spent together.  She went on to tell amazing things that they were able to do together that had not seemed important before.  There were the grandparents of a young woman who received a Kidney transplant that saved her life and now she is looking to a ‘normal future with marriage, family and maturity.  When I was thanking her grandparents for the very significant donation they chided me quite strongly because it was they who should be saying thank you to the Hospital.

There is no need for me to go on about this as so many of you will have been in a similar situation, but do you realise what power those stories have on potential supporters?

My role at any of the hospitals that I have been employed by could be just a fundraiser but I see it as relationship consultant between the hospital and the potential supporters.  If we just see every dollar raised as a success story, we are missing out on the real reason why we do this.  What we do is really Organisational Marriage Counselling, and it is more important why we do it than how we do it.  If we can put as much energy into finding out peoples motivations as we do in raising funds of any amount we will not only be helping our organisations financially but we will be improving the experiences of our supporters.  I know one hospital that had on the websites home page the details of how to make a complaint about their treatment.  Wouldn’t it be great if we made a focal point of getting the good stories and spreading the good news?

What then is the ‘Je-ne-sais-quoi’ of tomorrow’s fundraiser?  I would like to think that it is a passion for people.  Just like a passion for sound and enthusiasm marks out an outstanding Brass Band, a passion for people and an enthusiasm for the task will mark out tomorrow’s fundraiser.