Guest Post – Dealing With the Fear of Fundraising

 A post by Jim Thalhuber

The March 5 blog headline reads, “We’re all development officers now!”  As one who has worked in and with hundreds of nonprofits organizations over the past three-plus decades, I could not agree more with this proclamation.

Unfortunately, I have not always found this to be the case in the nonprofit sector.  Why?  For many nonprofits, it stems directly from CEOs and Executive Directors who suffer from a profound fear of the “F” word – Fundraising.

I have seen otherwise very competent, dedicated and hard-working CEOs and Executive Directors shake and shrivel at the very thought of actually having to ask a potential donor for a charitable gift.  I have seen bold and visionary leaders go to great pains to find excuses and distractions for not soliciting a donation.  The reasons for this fear are myriad, I am sure.  Perhaps they don’t want to be perceived as money-grubbers, they don’t want to be rejected or they simply don’t know how to ask.

Whatever the reason for this fear, an all too common reaction is for CEOs/Executive Directors to step back from their fundraising responsibility, hire development professionals and then wash their hands of this duty.  Now it’s some else’s job, one less thing to lose sleep over.  And other leaders in the organization (managers and members of the board of directors) take their cue from the top.  It becomes an entrenched part of the organization’s culture.  After all, we have a Development Department “over there” to raise charitable dollars; I am too busy, I have other, more important things to focus on.

Then, when fundraising budgets are not met or expectations are not fully realized, it becomes all too easy to target development officers as the reason.  While I don’t dispute that there are certainly a number of incompetent development officers, fundraising failure is seldom their singular fault.  Rather, it is the total organization that has failed to adequately support the development function.

My solution to this quandary?  Clarify roles and responsibilities.

The Development Department works best when it orchestrates the organization’s response to fundraising opportunities, not when it bears the sole responsibility for raising money.  Yes, the Development Department is – and must be – responsible for the day-to-day fundraising activities (whether it be prospect research, coordinating the details of annual appeal mailings, making event arrangements or educating the organization on the why’s and how’s of fundraising).

But CEOs/Executive Directors, managers and Board members have a role they, too, must actively embrace.  They must partner with the Development Department in extending their “spheres of influence,” accompanying development officers on calls, thanking donors, making themselves available to give information and advice, being open to suggestions and ideas, and so forth – not in a vacuum, but as part of an organization-wide fundraising team.  Unless they intentionally carve out time for fundraising engagement, they put development officers in a very lonely, precarious and, many times, “no-win” situation.

I’ve seen great results when the aforementioned becomes part of a nonprofit’s fabric.  Yes, we must all be development officers now.

Jim Thalhuber has more than 30 years of leadership experience in nonprofit organizations, holding leadership positions in resource development, marketing and planning.  He is currently Vice President of Development and Marketing for Goodwill/Easter Seals Minnesota, where he has directed fundraising, marketing, public policy and volunteer efforts since 2004.  He previously headed an outsourcing company for nonprofits, directed a nonprofit consulting organization, and served in various capacities with several healthcare organizations.  Mr. Thalhuber has been a member of the board of directors of several nonprofits and is an adjunct professor at the University of St. Thomas, from which he received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees.

---