An organization posts an open fundraising job. They’re looking for a miracle worker. The expectations are wildly unrealistic.
The person who gets the job saw the delusional thinking in the job description, but, considering it par for the course in the world of fundraising, claimed to have worked a few of those miracles in a previous position or two.
Yet, no matter what that fundraiser accomplishes, more wild expectations await. The failure to confront the false expectations comes back to haunt the capable fundraiser time and again.
The time to adeptly confront those expectations is in the job interview.
The word interview means “to see one another.” Interviews about fundraising positions should focus on what is possible under the circumstances. Fundraising candidates should ask for more data so they can see rising or falling trends. They should ask questions like, “Can you show me the back stories on the ten largest gifts you have received, including when the first gift was given and how many gifts were given before each of those donors made their largest commitment? In addition, can you show me how long it took from the time those donors were first approached until they made their largest commitment?”
The best way to show how fundraising really works is to put the organization’s fundraising data in front of their hiring authorities. It invariably shows:
- Long relationships yield the greatest fundraising results
- Time builds trust
- Trust builds receptivity to fundraising requests
- The fundraising requests that resonate most with donors are those that build on their previous giving patterns
- The bigger the gift commitment, the longer the gestation period
- The more time spent negotiating gift agreements, the larger the commitment, the more effective the stewardship, the happier the donor, the greater the receptivity to the next legitimate request
That’s how fundraising works. Yes, there are the occasional rare exceptions, but the larger patterns are powerfully clear and can be found in donor histories of just about every organization.
The rest is wishful thinking too often fed by overstated claims of fundraisers and the simplistic assertions of supposed fundraising experts, to the detriment of us all and to philanthropy itself.
Jim Langley is the president of Langley Innovations. Langley Innovations provides a range of services to its clients to help them understand the cultural underpinnings of philanthropy and the psychology of donors and, with that knowledge, to develop the most effective strategies and tactics to build broader and more lasting communities of support. Jim has authored numerous books, including his most recent book, The Future of Fundraising: Adapting to New Philanthropic Realities, published by Academic Impressions in 2020.