So, You Want to Be a Career Fundraiser?

Know This: It's About M & Ms

I admit it.  M&Ms are one of my secret guilty pleasures.  The iconic little candy-coated delights with the melt-in-your-mouth-not-in-your-hands technology that was developed in our hometown of Kansas City (more on that later) are the subject of some interesting traditions and lore.  Never until the other morning, though, did M&Ms make it into my fundraising lexicon. 

At an AFP Issues & Answers, I listened while three respected fundraisers talked about the lifecycle of a fundraising career.  One followed an upward progression, raising more for larger organizations, taking on more responsibility, and earning more with each job change. Another had a lifelong connection with the organization he heads.  While he’s a  CEO and not a development director, his words clearly signaled to me that he was a Fundraiser through and through.  The third, a recovered lawyer like me, admitted that she “fell into” the fundraising profession -- and initially had been a bit embarrassed by the thought that she would be “begging” for donations.

That was, until she heard a wise volunteer give an inspirational talk at an AFP National Philanthropy Day luncheon some years ago.  The speaker was a prominent civic leader who was not bashful in delivering her message.  She had placed a small bag of M&Ms at every seat and used them to explain that fundraising was not about sales; it was about Matchmaking and Marketing. 

When I transitioned from the for-profit world to follow my desire for a nonprofit career, I explained to interviewers who asked about my fundraising experience that it was “all volunteer” until that time but that I had a substantial amount of experience in SALES.  Thankfully, this resonated with one group of volunteers – leading to a 20-plus-year love affair with work in the nonprofit sector.

And there are similarities between sales and fundraising:  The research you do with your prospects (see, New$ You Can U$e, http://www.jeffreybyrneandassociates.com/planning3.htm about using the classic sales tool, the Mackay 66, to truly uncover important information about your donors);   how you “drip” on your prospects to bring them closer to your organization; some techniques for pre-qualifying; getting the appointment; and, in some respects, how you go about making the “ask.” 

But the Matchmaking and Marketing analogy resonated with me because it addresses a key principal to success in soliciting charitable gifts:  Before you ask, get to know the donor.  Before you ask, allow them to get to know you.  My colleague, the recovered lawyer, explained to the AFP group that fundraising was much more about helping donors get to know your organization and then matching donors’ passions to your mission and programs, than “selling” them on your need for money.  In that, she is absolutely correct.

I wonder: How many would-be professional fundraisers and board members stumble over the concept that they cannot ask their friends and colleagues to support a cause they care deeply about because they feel they are preying on them just to ask for money; just to “sell” them on the need for charitable gifts? 

When you focus on helping donors get to know your organization (Marketing) and then matching the donors’ interests to your mission and programs (Matchmaking), it becomes a matter of visiting with and building a rapport with your donor.  The Fear of Fundraising fades and it is then that you begin to see real results.

For my lawyer friend and me, this recognition led to many years of fruitful fundraising. So, when you’re considering a shift to a career in nonprofit fundraising, remember: It’s not as much about sales, as M&Ms.

Now, for the post-script:  As a huge hometown booster and someone who’s intellectually curious about the world around me, early in my fundraising career I stumbled on a fact little-known outside of Kansas City about M&Ms and one of our local institutions.  Midwest Research Institute, now MRIGlobal, is a $436 million independent nonprofit contract research organization headquartered in Kansas City.  Founded in 1944 during World War II with an initial mission to find a way to convert the ammonium nitrate military ordnance plants in Kansas and Arkansas to peaceful uses of creating fertilizer, MRI is credited with developing the coating process for M&M Candies permissing the coating of 3,300 pounds of chocolate centers every hour.  To learn more about MRI, visit http://www.mriglobal.org/.

To learn more about bridging into a fundraising career, contact me at jfurla@hcapsearch.com.