Video · Finding your purpose: Engaging funders in your vision
Nonprofits are casting bold visions for 2021 and beyond. Those visions will require equally bold funding—and soon.
Crisis has shown nonprofits just how important they are—and how important it is for leaders and fundraisers to tap into that sense of purpose. (Check out our recent conversation on this.)
Today, nonprofits are seeking ‘seed investors’ in their big ideas and plans for the future. They’re finding that funders themselves have been radically changed by the experiences, reckonings, and awakenings of the past year.
Aperio and the NYUSPS George H. Heyman, Jr. Program for Philanthropy and Fundraising convened a conversation among fundraising leaders to discuss how they’re approaching conversations and what they’re learning.
Our panel shared their insights and experiences on these topics:
How do you identify prospective early funders in your vision?
How do you engage those prospective funders in the process of developing your vision and co-creating solutions?
How do you ensure the partnership you develop is a genuine win-win?
How do you avoid common pitfalls?
Panelists included:
Tia Hodges, Senior Program Officer, Citi Foundation (moderator)
Heather Northrop, Vice President of Development, Child Mind Institute
Leya Petrovani Miller, Senior Development Officer, The Bowery Mission
Nancy Sackson, Senior Director of Development, San Francisco-Marin Food Bank
Jennifer Szapiro-Fast, Managing Director, Institutional Relations, Audubon Society
Funders stepped up in crisis—in a new way
The past year was filled with uncertainty for nonprofits and many worried that funders would pull back support. Our panelists—representing organizations large and small—shared that donors overwhelmingly came through for them.
They were particularly inspired by how funders gave. Instead of requiring complex, slow application processes, institutional funders met organizations where they were, adapting to their needs. Individuals who never considered themselves philanthropic asked: How can I help?
Nancy Sackson from the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank shared: “It has renewed my faith in people’s capacity to give in a way that is based on altruism and not so much on other motivators.” She added: “I think that many of the donors gave because they saw for the first time with their own eyes, the need manifest in their own communities. In other words, there were so many very long lines of people around the city waiting to get into the food bank, to get access to our pop-up pantries. And as these donors, who are really leadership level donors, drove past they saw this for themselves and they picked up the phone and made a call. In a number of cases, with a first time million-dollar gift with no strings attached. And for us it took to an entirely new level.” In San Francisco, food insecurity surged, and the food bank was able to meet the need thanks to quick and generous investment from individuals, foundations, and companies.
Leya Petrovani Miller shared that her organization, The Bowery Mission, had a similar experience, serving crisis needs on the frontlines. Donors—including new donors—came through and filled gaps. “It was such a moment of realizing that we as neighbors are in this together and there was a lot of that increased community commitment that we saw last year which was really meaningful to us.”
At Child Mind Institute, Heather Northrop saw an increase in small donations and an even large increase in donations from foundations wanting to expand their impact on underserved communities:
“The foundations especially have really stepped up with focus on access and distribution of our resources to communities in need. So, some big partnerships around reaching hard to reach communities in rural settings, inner-city, Spanish speaking communities—we’ve really tried to translate all of our online resources into Spanish, provide all of our Facebook Lives in Spanish. So, that has been a noticeable piece that we look forward to continuing and certainly supporting our work.”
Jen Szapiro-Fast spoke to the Audubon Society’s generous funders early on and asked them to provide the organization greater flexibility by lifting restrictions on gifts. The majority did, which allowed programs to adapt to new needs.
The key question on panelists’ minds now is: How can we keep these types of partnerships going? They shared three tips that you can apply, too:
Engage funders early and often
Create genuinely ‘win-win’ partnerships
Center your community
Tip no. 1: Engage funders early and often
“One of the most important things,” said Jen, “is to engage donors early and often.” The other panelists agreed: Have more conversations and have them soon. Don’t wait until you have all the answers and your story perfectly polished. Share where you are and let donors into the process.
Nancy shared that she starts her process by getting to know new donors individually. She spends time trying to figure out what resonates with them and learning how they want to give.
Heather and Jen shared how their organizations are involving donors in the strategic planning process. Their organizations are asking questions with transformational impact on the futures of their missions, programs, and communities. They’ve recognized that the time to engage partners in imaging what’s next is now—before the cake is baked, and really before the recipe is even written.
For Heather, this involves focusing on the donors who are grateful families and taking them on a journey with the organization as it explores what’s next. In response to COVID, much of the Child Mind Institute’s clinical care transitioned to telehealth. Now, the organization is exploring the role of telehealth going forward—and its potential to be a resource for many more families.
“We don’t know what is to come,” she said. And that’s why it’s critical to be open with families and talk about possibilities.
Jen shared that, in her space, many donors are true subject-matter experts—scientists and lifelong conservationists. Their perspectives are a true asset in the strategic planning process. She has found it helpful to convene small-group roundtables for those who have an interest in specific priority areas—such as forests or water. She combines donors with Audubon experts so that the conversation is rich and interactive. Donors have opportunities to share ideas in conversation with their peers—and even to bring others into the conversation.
The key, says Jen, is “being thoughtful about creating guideposts. Where do you want input?” Then, authentically ask for input in those areas and include it in the final strategic plan.
Beyond high-touch engagement opportunities, Heather and Leya shared how they are leveraging storytelling—particularly through digital channels—to elevate the donor experience. Heather’s team has been looking for ways to make resources easy to digest.
Tip No. 3: Create genuinely win-win partnerships
Donors’ willingness to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with nonprofits to solve problems shouldn’t be a crisis-only phenomenon. We can keep these win-win partnerships going by being intentional about the kinds of conversations we have with donors.
For our panelists, a key focus is keeping gifts less restricted going forward so that their organizations are free to innovate and adapt to the emerging landscape. Going forward, it will be more important than ever that dollars match organizational priorities.
“It feels almost counterintuitive—not always being driven and reactive to what donors want,” said Heather. “But, being very clear and steady in what your organization’s priorities are…establishes in some ways authority and leadership on whatever mission your organization is focused on.”
Jen thinks the timing is right to make the shift we saw during the pandemic a new, permanent feature of the funding landscape: “We have precedent where restrictions were loosened, and now we’re trying to keep them there.”
“The key,” she said,” is to build those really strong and authentic relationships and getting to know your donors where they are going to engage and feel fulfilled. That authentic engagement really pays dividends down the line.”
Nancy added that it’s important to root the conversations about restrictions in the context of the challenges we’re solving for:
“We're not just serving increased need that occurred as a result of COVID. We’re emphasizing that the need was already there and that it had grown exponentially over the years and it will continue to exist well beyond the pandemic as it were.
“I think that the other thing we’re thinking about is again, restricted versus unrestricted giving. As fundraisers, we always want to secure the unrestricted gift because we know that it makes our job easier number one and number two, it’s the best thing for the organization so I am always biased in that direction but I’m having to step back and think to myself about how a restricted gift can be shaped in a way that makes it less onerous for the organization and more impactful and meaningful for donors.
“So rather than closing the door or steering the donor towards unrestricted, I’m really thinking does donor really want to give an unrestricted gift or do they restricted gift or are they more motivated to do something that’s more restricted but can I structure it in a way that really works for both of us so that’s a big thing that we are thinking about at the San Francisco Marin Food Bank.
“I am excited about all the opportunity right now that has come out of what has really been a global tragedy.”
Tip no. 3: Center your community
Perhaps the most seismic shift in nonprofits and philanthropy this past year has been increased accountability to the communities that nonprofits serve. Recognizing that our industry was built on racism and systems of oppression, leaders and fundraisers are calling for a new, ‘community-centric’ model that gives agency to the community served by the nonprofit, rather than centering donors or any one organization.
Our panelists recognized that we are at the beginning of this change, and that it will require intentionality at every step of the way to break hard-worn habits and assumptions. Nevertheless, change is underway.
We know that our careers as fundraisers are often spent walking the line between what our organizations seek to do and what our donors are seeking to fund. This year, we have seen a shift away from this donor-centric model and more to a community-centric framework to meet the moment.
Panelists shared that a key step has been changing how we talk about needs in our community. Nancy shared:
“Donor intent and interest has taken a backseat to the needs of the community during this pandemic. It’s been extraordinary to witness that. I do think we have started to do more of this: not just slap the Band-Aid on as it were by providing food but really starting to look very carefully at communities we are serving and what they say about the community needs and the root causes of the food insecurity.”
“We are trying to walk a fine line there and really move more into the causes space and be less about reacting to the effects. I think that donors are responsive to that but primarily they’re still very interested in just getting food onto people's tables which is wonderful.”
Leya added:
“Now that vaccinations are rolling out and we are beginning to talk about a potential end of COVID or life post COVID, we’re anticipating having to balance continuing to be relevant for donors and making sure that we’re reminding them that unfortunately food insecurity and homelessness and poverty, trauma are things that pre-existed COVID and have only been made more challenging because of the Coronavirus. Although perhaps we are not in that state of emergency anymore or we’re getting out of that, we are still dealing with a truly emergent situation.
“With mental health, COVID has only further blown the lid on what was already present and I think we are seeing that with so many different injustices that COVID has only widened the chasm between those who have much and those who lack access.” Leya adds “how can we bring donors into space of positivity and hope and sharing stories of people who have been impacted by the services, if possible connecting the donors to those people so that meeting the need feels closer.
“As fundraisers, we’re all storytellers and…we are relationship-builders. Make sure that you’re obviously not changing the story of what will happen but making it relevant for the donor and what they’re trying to achieve through their giving. It is about bringing our communities to the forefront and investigating how our donors want to contribute to the story of the community.”
Tia summarized the conversation: “It sounds like fundraising with humanity in mind.”
Getting started
Now that we have started these new kinds of partnerships with donors, how do we maintain them? How do we keep the momentum going?
Our panelists had these parting thoughts to share:
Heather: “Be very clear and steady in what organization's priorities are. In long run, opens conversations for more transformational giving.”
Jen: “Pick up the phone. Build relationships with people. I got on phone with lawyer for donor. I spoke with him. We found out he has not seen grand-daughter in over a year. It changed the dynamic of the relationship. Everyone is going through something. We know that people give money to people. Take advantage of open line for communication. More open than it has ever been.”
Leya: “Think of donors who would be inspired by something never done before. Some donors want to see something that has been done before, which is different from one who is visionary and enjoys thinking through ways to try something never done before. That is the kind of donor who would be inspired by something new, something bigger. Find the right ask for right person.”
Nancy: “Donors are a captive audience. You can pick up the phone, be a bit more personal. They are in a space where they want to talk to someone. Usually, they might be consumed with work and trave. Now, they might be more receptive to our calls and messages. What you're telling people is essential. Make sure your messages are clear, concise, and that everyone in organization is on same page so that it is apparent to donor that there is a single focus.”
Travis Shingledecker
Before joining Aperio, Travis worked in the nonprofit sector in New York City and Philadelphia for organizations like Sanctuary for Families and Nationalities Service Center. He is committed to translating his on-the-ground nonprofit experience to helping fundraisers share meaningful, insightful stories with donors about their impact.