Author: Hank Lewis, MA, CFRM

I initially wrote this piece with the idea in mind that many NPOs don’t need DODs, but my wife read it and said I was totally wrong. So, the following is sort of a collaboration … actually, I won’t publish anything she doesn’t approve !!

Ideally, from day one, an organization should have someone who knows/understands the NPO, its mission, its leadership and its hopes and aspirations. This person should have the experience and skills to help the NPO plan for next week and next year.

This person should have input at all levels, should be able to guide/train the board members and the CEO, and should be able to bring to staff an awareness and understanding of how they affect the development process.

A large organization, with a large development staff, must have someone to coordinate the various programs and be sure that they support, not conflict with or duplicate each other. Sadly, the vast majority of new/nascent NPOs don’t have the money to hire a person with the requisite experience and capabilities.

Smaller organizations that live on grants, need a grants officer. If much of a NPO’s income is from events, then an event coordinator is needed. If one person can do both, all the better.

To hire a staff person to focus on one or two activities, and give that person the title of Director of Development, is to lie to that person, to that person’s next employer and to the board and staff of the NPO doing the hiring.

Hiring a person and giving them the title doesn’t mean that you’re actually getting all the experience/expertise that comes with a real director of development.

A DOD is a critical hire for an organization. The right person can greatly help ensure an organization’s future….

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Have a question about starting or expanding your fundraising? Email me at AskDCA@Major-Capital-Giving.com. With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, we’ll work to answer your question.

So many non-profit organizations are hiring Directors of Development without really knowing/understanding what “development” is supposed to be about and how a DOD is supposed to function.

For many organizations, the Director of Development is the person hired to write the grant proposals, or create relationships with corporations, or create/run the event that’s going to raise the big bucks.

The misunderstanding is the belief that “Director of Development” equates to “income generator.” So many NPOs hire DODs with the belief that they’re getting someone who will raise the needed funds; and, the sad thing is that so many NPOs hire DODs so that organizational leadership (board and other senior staff) won’t have to be involved in (or even think about) fundraising.

Hire a person to raise the money, and the amount of money that can be raised is limited by the time/effort that one person is willing/able to give to the process.

Hire a person to create and/or direct a development program and there’s no theoretical limit to how much money can be raised … considering the person’s level of experience and expertise.

A Director of Development creates and/or plans-for-and-directs a development program … an effort that incorporates many (if not all) of the elements of the development process: mass solicitation (mail or telephone), grants (government, foundation and corporate), events, major gifts, bequests, donor cultivation, etc….

How many organizations do you know of that have a Director of Development who isn’t !!??

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Have a question about starting or expanding your fundraising? Email me at AskDCA@Major-Capital-Giving.com. With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, we’ll work to answer your question.

Development is, by definition, the process of creating and enhancing relationships with (potential) donors.

It is the introduction of (prospective) donors to a non-profit organization, building their interest in the organization’s mission/services, developing in them a passion for the mission and a commitment to the organization’s future, getting them to make-the-gift, and maintaining the relationship so that they will continue to support the mission … and continue to give.

“Development” directly implies that the donor is supporting the organization, its mission and services.

“Fundraising” only addresses the “giving” aspect of the process, and people don’t always give to a NPO to support the organization, its mission and/or its services.

As noted previously, people give to satisfy their own needs. If the process results in having an individual want to give … feeling good about giving because s/he wants to advance the mission and services, that’s a desired result of the development process.

Very often, however, a donor’s reason for giving may have nothing to do with the NPO’s mission. They may give because they want to please the person who is “asking,” because they want to see their name alongside the names of recognizable personalities, or if they want to see their name on (a floor, a wing, or on the outside of) a building. That is fundraising, but not necessarily “development.”

When I’m working with a client, I de-emphasize the terminology, and stress the importance of getting to know the (prospective) donors well enough to know what his/her needs are and how those needs can be satisfied by making a gift to their NPO.

“The Hokey-Pokey of Fundraising”

Whether it’s a Corporation, a Foundation, a prospective Major Donor or the recipient of a mass solicitation, they’re not going to write you a check if the process doesn’t satisfy their needs.

Getting a Corporation to want to give to a non-profit organization (NPO) is a simple matter of learning, understanding and acting on the needs of the corporation and those of its decision makers. Will giving to your NPO help the corporation’s marketing efforts and increase its revenue? Will supporting your NPO and espousing your cause make the corporate leaders look good?

Foundations give based on their mission and the needs of the foundation leadership. Do you solicit foundations whose leaders feel strongly about your programs/activities and about the people you serve? Do you know who those leaders are and what is important to them?

To get an individual (potential) major donor to want to give, you have to know that person well enough to know what is important to him. You have to know/understand her priorities.

Why would someone put a coin or bill in the can-on-the-counter if doing so didn’t satisfy their need?

Just because a NPO does wonderful things in a cost-effective manner doesn’t mean that potential donors will want to give to it.

Getting people to want to give, and corporations and foundations are run by people, is about learning, understanding and appealing to their various needs.

“That’s What It’s All About.”

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Have a question about starting or expanding your fundraising? Email me at AskDCA@Major-Capital-Giving.com. With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, we’ll work to answer your question.

Fundraising, as a distinct sub-category of income generation, includes those activities that get people to GIVE their money to non-profit organizations and, ideally, to get them to keep giving.

It does not include raising money by selling things – T-shirts, light bulbs, candy, books, carnival tickets, seats at a dinner or anything else that has material substance.

Although those activities labelled “fundraisers” generate income, because they are not based on “giving,” but rather on selling, they aren’t part of “Fundraising.” Income generation, “Yes.” Fundraising, “No.”

People who buy candy or cookies from local students are (usually) looking to help the student or satisfy a sweet tooth, not necessarily to support the school activity.

Frequently, people who buy tickets to an event (carnival or sit-down dinner) do so because of who’s selling the tickets and/or because they see the event as entertainment. Too often, attendees at dinners know little if anything about the organization the event supports.

In many people’s minds, fundraising equates to “philanthropy,” another term that’s misused a lot. The origin (Greek) and original meaning of the word is “love of man,” or “love of humankind.” Today, the term is often used to label almost anything to do with fundraising.

In fact, “philanthropy” is a subset of fundraising. It’s about giving, but (for the most part) it’s self-motivated giving. It’s giving in consideration of the needs of others, where much of the rest of fundraising is (as noted in my first posting) about the needs of the donor.

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Have a question about starting or expanding your fundraising? Email me at AskDCA@Major-Capital-Giving.com. With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, we’ll work to answer your question.

When I was asked to edit/manage/write this blog, I wasn’t sure what I might have to say that was new, interesting, stimulating or basically worth reading. I don’t want to just hear (read) myself thinking, I want to encourage discussion, conversation and professional debate.

So, as my first posting … an outline of what this blog will cover, and an initial description of the basis of my fundraising philosophy:

• What fundraising is and is not;
• What development is and is not;
• The relationship between fundraising and development;
• Who in a non-profit organization (NPO) is responsible for fundraising and/or development — the roles of staff, board and other volunteers;
• Major Gift and Bequest programs;
• Fundraising/Planning Studies;
• Capital Campaigns;
• Grant Writing and Relationships with Grantors;
• Special events;
• Why “fundraisers” are not fundraising; and,
• Anything else I can think of and that you suggest.

Fundraising, where it serves the needs of the NPO, cannot be about the needs of the NPO. Fundraising must be about the needs of the (prospective) donor. If you don’t consider the donor’s needs, how can you expect the donor to consider the needs of the NPO?

I also want to be able to publish your thoughts and comments, and I want to address your questions. I also invite you to contact me directly if you have an idea for a posting … I’ll give you credit (name, firm/org, contact info) for whatever you write that I post.

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Have a question about starting or expanding your fundraising? Email me at AskDCA@Major-Capital-Giving.com. With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, we’ll work to answer your question.

I’m Hank Lewis and I’m the host of this blog. You can read more about me next to my picture in the sidebar. This blog will be about various aspects of fundraising, from broad concepts to practical tips, and will include posts from guest writers. You can learn more about this blog by clicking on the About link just under the header.

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