Mini-rant ahead…
I talk to a lot of people about fundraising and there are some common misconceptions.
Some people believe that starting a nonprofit means the free money will rain down on them from “grants” or “Oprah.”
Some people believe that if they create the right video, they will go viral, raise millions of dollars online from nameless masses and ride off into the sunset.
Some believe that just because they happen to be super passionate about pygmy albino anteaters that everyone else should too.
I see people throwing all kinds of money at fancy marketing firms and social media strategists, but don’t actually do the hard work of building a donor base one by one.
You can’t expect to raise money from thousands of people if you haven’t raised money from one person first.
There are no shortcuts, no “hacks”, no magic bullets that I know of other than building trusting relationships with donors, which is time-consuming, labor-intensive and hard to scale.
Here’s how it works: you identify a problem. You try to solve that problem. You talk to other people who also agree that it’s a problem. They donate money or volunteer or join up if they think you do a good job of addressing the problem.
Then you get to solve that problem for more people.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
People won’t give of their time, talent and treasure if
- you can’t articulate the problem
- you can’t demonstrate how you effectively solve the problem
- They don’t know, like or trust you.
- they don’t think it’s a problem
- it’s not a problem they care about.
If any of those components are missing, you’re a few ingredients short of a fruitcake.
Don’t fall so in love with your idea that you aren’t willing to start over.
Do the work.
Trust the process.
Don’t be fooled by the lie of overnight success–it usually takes years of chipping away.
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