Our movement’s leaders spend half their time fundraising.
If donors can make that time more efficient and enjoyable, our movement will be stronger.
I did a small non-scientific survey to spark discussion about this opportunity.
Fifteen Executive Directors responded to my survey. This simple exercise isn’t enough to really understand reality. Rather, it’s a clue that the donor community can strengthen the movement by improving the fundraising process. Here are some broad take-aways:
Half of respondents like fundraising, and half dislike it. None love it, but some hate it.
Fundraising makes 80% of respondents less enthusiastic to continue working in the movement.
Of the four respondents who spend >50% of time fundraising, none enjoy it. Of the eleven who spend <50% of time fundraising, there is no correlation.
Fundraising conversations sometimes improve EDs work output, but not by much.
Fundraising interactions generally do make EDs feel respected.
In a future post, I’ll share some thoughts on how to improve the fundraising process. What ideas do you have?
Donors: What have you done to make fundraising as efficient as possible for your grantees?
Practitioners: What have donors done that’s made fundraising more efficient or enjoyable for you?