Nonprofit educator and knowledge developer CompassPoint released a report last year that highlighted the serious challenges nonprofits of all sizes have faced for years in implementing effective fundraising programs.
UnderDeveloped: Challenges Facing Nonprofit Fundraising and How to Create a Culture of Philanthropy confirmed what many of us in the sector have thought for years and promised to take steps to help nonprofits get better at fundraising.
The report revealed many nonprofits are “stuck in a vicious cycle that threatens their ability to raise the resources they need to succeed.” Written by CompassPoint CEO Jeanne Bell and senior project staffer Marla Cornelius, the project was the joint effort of that organization and the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund.
Researchers interviewed more than 1,000 nonprofit leaders to get a bead on why nonprofit fundraising proves so difficult. They found several recurring themes.
One was high levels of turnover and lengthy vacancies in development director positions throughout the sector. Nonprofits struggle to reach a point where they have the resources to hire a development director.
Many fundraising hopes are pinned on this one person. Yet development directors are sometimes ill prepared for their roles and have difficulty reaching the hoped for fund development goals.
In the survey, significant numbers of development directors reported they anticipate leaving the field of development within two years. This was much more the case in small- and mid-sized organizations. Researchers felt this was an indication that development positions at larger nonprofits are more likely to be held by career development professionals than those in small to mid-sized nonprofits.
Lying behind these findings, however, is a more deeply embedded problem — an overall lack of adequate fundraising infrastructure. As the report puts it, “Nonprofits cannot just hire their way out of the problems they face … It (fundraising) has to be a priority, and a shared responsibility, for the board, the executive director and the staff alike.”
When this does not exist, nonprofits lack “the conditions for fundraising success.” That is a point development directors must emphasize to their executive directors and nonprofit executive staff must drive home to their board members.
I know that’s easier said than done, but give your board members a copy of this report.
What are the conditions for fundraising success? Per CompassPoint, the conditions are investing in the organization’s fundraising capacity, technologies and other fund development systems needed; a staff, executive director and board deeply engaged in fundraising themselves; the development director viewed as a key leader and partner integrally involved in organizational planning and strategy; and the principles and practices of fund development and philanthropy understood and valued across the organization.
That’s a good set of marching orders, certainly.
The CompassPoint report promised to create a series of meetings and webinars across the country to discuss these issues further with nonprofits. I spoke to UnderDeveloped co-author Marla Cornelius about how that had gone and whether there were new training materials nonprofits could use to address these problems.
Her response: “The technical assistance materials required to achieve a nonprofit more fully engaged fund development program already exist. CompassPoint did not want to re-create what is already there. Rather, we wanted to talk with the individuals who need to themselves become more engaged. The development director cannot be an isolated individual. Fund development must be an integrated leadership program.”
And, of course, she’s right. Each week I receive at least two links to high-quality webinars or reports on more effective fundraising — not just inch-deep information but truly high-value tools and steps for creating and implementing a fund development plan.
Expecting a development director to handle all the fundraising masks an inadequacy of internal fundraising structure and the lack of an organizational culture of philanthropy. Says the report, “Organizations need to make fundamental changes in the way they lead and resource fund development in order to create the cultures and systems that support fundraising success.”
Yes, one person can’t do it alone.
Sarah Todd is the founder of Change Pioneers, a resource for nonprofits seeking tools and information to implement positive, broad scale social change. She can be reached at changepioneers@gmail.com or 912-224-2120.