Gather Your People

It is a problem if you are not having genuine conversations with your most loyal funders.

Now, we get it. Who has time to do that? And I am talking to both sides here, nonprofits and funders.

When I worked in a nonprofit, every day felt maxed out. You could be feeding the homeless. You could be providing services to people with disabilities. You could be growing food. You could be building a business. You could be tending to your community in rural areas. With all of that on your plate, why would you carve out time to talk with your most loyal funders?

Funders are not exactly sitting around waiting for calls either. They are fielding countless requests. They are getting invited to site visits and cultivation events. They are being pulled in every direction. And while those activities matter, they cannot replace the simple power of a real conversation.

Here is the reality. If your funders do not know you well enough to understand your impact, then when things get tough, they will give preference to the organizations they have relationships with.

Let us give you an example. We were working with a foundation that is part of a two billion dollar portfolio. This year they received three hundred applications for one of their grant cycles, far more than usual. The leader of the foundation told me, “Who am I going to remember? The person who wrote a really nice grant application? Or the conversation I had with Cody.” Her answer was immediate. “I am going to remember the conversation.”

If you are not having those conversations or not making an effort to facilitate them, you risk being the organization left behind.

The solution does not have to be complicated. You do not need to build a new program or hire a major gifts officer. You just need to be intentional. Gather your four or five biggest funders and cultivate a meaningful conversation. Learn what motivates them to give. Challenge them! Let them see your commitment to the work.

This rarely happens in underfunded organizations, and there are always a dozen excuses for why it does not. That has to stop.

Start having the conversations. Learn how to become a skilled facilitator in a couple of different domains. Create sessions that are authentic, genuine, and packed with truth and value. Make it so that when your funder walks away, they say,

“This is an organization we will never stop supporting.”