7 Habits of Highly Effective Fundraisers
Tomorrow, August 17, is National Nonprofit Day. It’s a day to honor nonprofits, the role that charities play in society, and the people who make that vital work possible.
I remember the moment I realized I could have a career serving nonprofits. I was just about to graduate college with a double business degree in marketing and web and information technology. I was looking to move from Southern California to the Seattle area with my soon-to-be-wife and was looking for a job. I hoped for meaningful work, but I assumed I would end up at some large company advertising products of some kind.
Through a series of connections that I now look back on as providential, I learned about a marketing agency that served nonprofit organizations called Masterworks. The rest, as they say, is history. That was 20 years ago. After 18 years of starting or helping build teams in digital, media, analytics, strategy, experience design, and innovation, I founded Imago Consulting to help leaders create profitable growth through sustainable innovation.
I love serving the nonprofit sector. At Imago Consulting, 75% of our clients are nonprofits, and the remaining 25% are businesses that, by and large, serve nonprofit organizations. I’m proud of our role in catalyzing and growing the impact of the sector.
Nonprofits serve a unique and critical role in society that businesses, government, and churches don’t fill.
As Dan Pallotta says in his book Uncharitable and famous TED Talk, nonprofits are the market for love.
And that’s where the nonprofit sector and philanthropy come in. Philanthropy is the market for love. It is the market for all those people for whom there is no other market coming. And so if we really want, like Buckminster Fuller said, a world that works for everyone, with no one and nothing left out, then the nonprofit sector has to be a serious part of the conversation.
So, in honor of National Nonprofit Day, I’d like to share a list of the habits of highly effective nonprofit leaders – fundraisers in particular- because those are the people with whom I’ve had the privilege of working the most.
7 Habits of Highly Effective Fundraisers
Leadership is influence – if you are a fundraiser, you are a leader.
I’ve worked with hundreds of nonprofit leaders over two decades.
Over the years, I’ve noticed several traits common among highly effective leaders – qualities I admire and have sought to learn from and apply to my work and leadership.
So, without further ado, I present to you the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Fundraisers:
Habit 1: Understand How to Move from Data to Strategy.
Nonprofit leaders continually seek to understand where they are at today, and determine where they should go next.
My friend and mentor Bobb Biehl once told me, “Dave, boards care about two things. First, that leadership knows what is going on. And second, that they have a plan to do something about it.” Simple but powerful wisdom. Bobb has coached or worked with over 5,000 executive leaders, including many nonprofit leaders, so when he speaks, I listen. I’ve served on several boards, and I wholeheartedly agree.
Effective leaders seek to A) understand what is going on and B) create a plan to do something about it. Note that this does NOT mean effective fundraisers are lone wolves, going it alone and coming up with everything themselves. Most leaders I’ve known know how to surround themselves with wise counsel, seek others' input and work with colleagues and partners who seek to understand where they are and possible options for moving forward.
💡 Takeaway: Effective leaders continually seek to understand the present reality and surround themselves with wise counsel to determine what they are going to do about it.
Habit 2: Find What’s Working, and Do More of That.
One of the mistakes I’ve seen nonprofit leaders make is spending so much time fighting fires that they have little time or energy to think about what is working.
My friend and colleague for many years, Rory Starks, once told me his secret to success throughout his career – “Dave, it’s not complicated. I find out works, and I do more of that.”
It can be so easy to overcomplicate things or be distracted by putting out fires or trying to keep all the balls in the air. The most effective fundraisers I know ask a simple question – “What’s working, and how can we do more of that?”
💡 Takeaway: Highly effective leaders resist the temptation to focus only on problems and instead look for bright spots – areas that are working well – and ask, “How can we do more of that?”
Habit 3: Leverage Your Natural Resources.
Every organization and every individual has what I call “natural resources” – gifts that are unique to who they are.
Another mistake I see leaders make is they spend too much time and too much emotional energy looking at and wishing for what others have. “Well if we had a celebrity founder like XYZ Charity...” or “I wish we had connections to influencers like…” or “If only we had access to grants like…” and so on.
By contrast, highly effective fundraisers understand their unique resources, and tap into those. Thinking of your own situation, here are a few examples of what those natural resources might be:
Culture – Strengths in the organization's DNA that can be leveraged – e.g., entrepreneurial spirit, high tolerance for risk-taking and innovation, deep passion for advocacy, etc.
History – Values embedded in the organization's history – e.g., longevity in a particular sector, whether the organization is a pioneer or the founder was a person of significant influence, etc.
Relational – Connections or an otherwise relational orientation – e.g., significant collaboration and partnerships, community organizing, or connections to influencers, artists, celebrities, etc.
Capital – Access to financial resources – e.g., a board policy favorable to reinvestment, access to endowment or grants, a national footprint, etc.
Brand – The organization’s brand is known – e.g., awareness with the general public, in a specific niche or geographic region, etc.
Network – Distributed networks of people, content, media, or locations – e.g., boots on the ground, widely syndicated or distributed content, offices or distributed team members, etc.
Scale – Scale itself is a natural resource – e.g., the size of the organization’s footprint, resources, donor file, etc.
The key is to consider your unique natural resources and stop wasting time and energy being envious of what others have that you don’t.
💡 Takeaway: Effective leaders seek to understand what natural resources they’ve been given personally and organizationally, and they tap into those resources.
Habit 4: Manage the Present while Inventing the Future.
Years ago, I saw an interview with Coca-Cola's incoming CEO. The interviewer asked her what the most significant challenge she faced as a new CEO was, and I’ve never forgotten her reply: “I think the biggest challenge I face is the same challenge that every leader in every organization faces, and that is to manage the present while inventing the future.”
“Manage the present while inventing the future.” It’s not an either/or proposition. If you only focus on the present day, you might be operationally effective but completely miss what’s coming. If you primarily think about moving forward into the future, you risk neglecting what’s working today.
The most effective leaders I know recognize that we all tend to lean one way or another—either we are wired to dial in the present or look forward to what’s coming. They seek to maximize what’s working today AND actively move their organizations and teams into the future.
💡 Takeaway: Effective leaders understand there is a tension between managing the present and inventing the future, where they tend to lean and surround themselves with people who can fill in the gaps.
Habit 5: Act with Courage and Take Calculated Risks.
Courage is not the absence of fear, but the decision to act in spite of it. It’s the ability to confront fear, pain, uncertainty, or challenges, even when the outcome is uncertain.
The most effective leaders I’ve known take risks. But when you look at those risks, you see that none of them are “betting the farm” – the risks they take are not fatal or catastrophic if they don’t work.
In other words, effective leaders take calculated risks. Jim Collins writes about the concept of first firing bullets then cannonballs in his book Great by Choice:
Fire Bullets, Then Cannonballs is a concept developed in the book Great by Choice. First, you fire bullets (low-cost, low-risk, low-distraction experiments) to figure out what will work – calibrating your line of sight by taking small shots. Then, once you have empirical validation, you fire a cannonball (concentrating resources into a big bet) on the calibrated line of sight. Calibrated cannonballs correlate with outsized results; uncalibrated cannonballs correlate with disaster.
The most effective fundraisers I’ve known regularly take risks. They try things that are not certain and then make their next decision based on how that first “shot” goes. But they never risk everything and certainly don’t risk catastrophic results unless they’ve already tested first and have the confidence to fire a cannonball.
💡 Takeaway: Effective leaders take risks that are calculated. They don’t just do the same things every year, hoping to get different results.
Habit 6: Bring the Best Out of Your Partners.
Having partnered with many nonprofit leaders and fundraisers, I’ve seen what is possible when an effective leader creates a sense of team with their partners.
Far from treating partners like vendors, these leaders understand that partners are people too and find ways to motivate them and incorporate them into the mission and team, just like they might an internal staff member. Alternatively, when fundraisers treat outside partners as vendors, that’s exactly what they’ll be for you when you need them most – a vendor.
💡 Takeaway: Effective leaders create relationships with partners marked by high expectations, trust, and treating them as part of the extended team.
Habit 7: Maintain a Learning Posture.
Have you ever encountered a leader who is highly experienced, incredibly smart, and at the same time is curious, constantly asks questions, seeks to learn, and humble? I aspire to be that kind of leader.
I’ve met many effective fundraisers who are humble and teachable, and as Stephen Covey says, seek first to understand, then to be understood. Beyond the benefits of empathetic communication, I believe their constant learning attitude is what sets these leaders apart.
A couple of weeks ago, when sharing lessons learned from writing 100 Wave Reports, I talked about how discipline is more important than talent. I wrote about how much I respect Kobe Bryant’s commitment to discipline. He’s also a tremendous example of a learning attitude:
“I want more. I want to learn more. Where can I learn more? Where can I look? I want to learn this thing some more. There has to be another level.” – Kobe Bryant on Learning
Effective leaders that I admire have a sense that they can always learn – there is always another level, and they keep that learning attitude.
💡 Takeaway: Effective fundraisers are humble, teachable, and have a never-ending desire to learn and grow.
I hope you’ll join me in celebrating nonprofits and the people who make that important work possible this National Nonprofit Day.
If you are a nonprofit practitioner, THANK YOU. Thank you for giving of yourself to causes that matter. I hope today’s Wave Report encourages you.
Until next week… Surfs Up! 🌊
- Dave
About the Author | Dave Raley
Consultant, speaker, and writer Dave Raley is the founder of Imago Consulting, a firm that helps non-profits and businesses create profitable growth through sustainable innovation. He’s the author of a weekly trendspotting report called The Wave Report, and the co-founder of the Purpose & Profit Podcast — a show about the ideas at the intersection of nonprofit causes and for-profit brands.
Want to receive insights like this weekly?
Every Friday, we send out The Wave Report, highlighting one trend or insight “wave,” from donor and consumer trends to innovation in different industries or new models for growth.
Subscribe today to receive free weekly insights in your inbox here: