“Start with Heart” Leadership: Emotional Intelligence as the Foundation for Fundraising Success

When fundraising teams struggle, leaders often respond with new strategies: restructured portfolios, new databases, more metrics, more meetings. But often, the missing ingredient isn’t strategic—it’s emotional.

Fundraising success doesn’t begin with systems. It begins with people.

And people flourish under emotionally intelligent leadership.

If you want to build a team that raises more and burns out less, it’s time to rethink how you lead—and that starts with empathy, self-awareness, and trust.

Emotionally Intelligent Leaders Create Emotionally Safe Teams

Research from Harvard Business School and others shows that teams perform best when they feel psychological safety—the sense that it’s OK to speak up, be vulnerable, and fail without fear of shame or retaliation.

That kind of environment doesn’t happen by accident. It’s created by leaders who:

Demonstrate emotional self-regulation under pressure.
Listen more than they talk.
Model humility, not ego.
Offer clarity and encouragement, not confusion and control.

In fundraising, emotional safety is essential. If your team is afraid to be authentic with donors—or with each other—you’ll never reach your potential.

Why EQ Matters More Than IQ (Especially in Fundraising)

In his groundbreaking book Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman argued that EQ (emotional quotient) accounts for over 80% of success in leadership roles. In fundraising, that number may be even higher.

Fundraisers deal with:

Rejection.
Pressure.
High emotional stakes.
Complex relationships with donors, staff, and volunteers.

If you lead fundraisers, your ability to read the room, respond thoughtfully, and stay grounded—especially during stressful times—sets the tone for everyone else.

In short, you create the emotional climate your team operates in.

What “Start with Heart” Leadership Looks Like

Start with Heart leadership doesn’t mean being soft. It means being smart about emotions—your own and others’. It looks like:

Asking “How are you doing?” and really listening to the answer.
Celebrating progress, not just outcomes.
Coaching for emotional growth, not just tactical performance.
Encouraging reflection, not just reaction.

I once worked with a leader who asked every team member to keep a “gratitude journal” for donors—not for compliance, but to spark emotional awareness. Within a few months, retention improved. Why? Because donors felt more seen—and staff felt more connected to the mission.

That’s leadership with emotional intelligence.

That’s what changes results—and culture.

Leading With Heart Is the Future of Fundraising

We’re in a moment of profound change in the nonprofit sector. Donors expect authenticity. Staff expect meaning. And both expect leaders to show up as human beings—not command-and-control machines.

Emotionally intelligent leadership is how we meet that moment.

In Start with Heart, I explore how the fundraising profession must evolve—not just in what we do, but in how we lead. Because leadership isn’t about being the loudest voice in the room. It’s about creating space for others to find theirs.

Dr. Bill Crouch is the former President of Georgetown College and a longtime fundraising consultant, speaker, and author. His new book, Start with Heart: The Secret Power of Emotions to Catalyze Fundraising Results, invites nonprofit professionals to reimagine fundraising through the lens of emotional intelligence.