>

4 Fundraising Lessons We Learned in October

Here are four lessons we learned last month:

 

Our current moment may spur the wealthy to increase their giving.

The pandemic has driven many wealthy individuals to look for ways to make more of a difference with their lives, to find a purpose with their lives, and to be part of something bigger than themselves, according to a recent survey. The same survey also found a significant share of respondents said the pandemic has made them feel more appreciative of what they have and feel guilty for being more fortunate than many other people. We know that appreciation and guilt are two key motivators that drive donors to give, which is why institutions should look for ways to ensure that they benefit.

Click here to learn more about what this current moment means for nonprofit institutions.

 

Fostering interdepartmental professional relationships can drive fundraising success.

Fundraisers’ relationships with curators, faculty, artistic directors, or performers are very important to their success. To foster personal and professional relationships, Tate pairs fundraisers with curators. They have monthly meetings that help them develop an open line of communication, which ultimately helps both fundraisers and curators, said Claire Gylphé, Director of Development at Tate, during a recent GG+A webinar entitled, “Building, and rebuilding, a museum development program: lessons from abroad.”

Click here to watch the entire webinar.

 

Institutions can reduce employee turnover by finding ways to make employees’ jobs more meaningful.

“People choose to come to jobs for the obvious reasons—title, money, status, prestige—but they actually don’t stay for those reasons,” said Peter Hayashida, President, UC Riverside Foundation and Vice Chancellor, Advancement at University of California, Riverside, during a recent session at the virtual conference CASE Summit. They stay for reasons such as the work that they’re doing, achievement, advancement, recognition, and growth. Investing in conversations over the long term around those reasons that people stay can boost morale and reduce employee turnover.

Click here to read more about the lessons we took away from CASE Summit.

 

It’s never been more important to build a culture of philanthropy.

While it has always been important to build a culture of philanthropy, the pandemic illuminated the need for institutions to have a sustainable fundraising model that is focused on individual donors. After all, individual donors account for the majority of giving; they accounted for nearly 69% of giving last year (not including bequests), according to The Giving Institute’s “Giving USA 2021: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2020.” That means that several types of institutions have found they need to adjust their approaches, including those with event-based and corporate-focused models, as well as those with little to no advancement program in place. While making that transition can cause some short-term pain, those efforts can position the institution for long-term success.

Click here to learn how to build a culture of philanthropy.

If you are interested in learning more and applying these strategies at your institution, please contact us.

Grenzebach Glier & Associates Inc http://gga.ugmade.co/wp-content/themes/gga/assets/img/grenzebach-glier-and-associates-print-only.png