I Had No Idea I Could Fund THAT! – PART 1
You could almost see the lightbulbs turning on!
I recently spent a terrific day with key leadership, faculty and staff at Southwest Wisconsin Technical College exploring how everyone can play a role in inspiring generosity.
Some of the biggest ah-ha moments weren’t about my 3 sentence ask (though I taught it and they all wrote one and it was great!) The ah-has were much more basic.
“I had no idea I could fund THAT!”
And…additionally way….
“I didn’t know the Development staff wanted to hear about the needs and dreams in MY area.”
Now, this is me speaking to my development professional colleagues for a moment… THAT’S a situation to not be frustrated about but rather, worth continuing to work to solve. Do you assume (yikes!) that they all just Get it? Or that they get it after the first few times they talk with you?
It’s a two-way street.
You can’t expect your faculty, staff, board members, volunteers or program leaders to engage in philanthropy if they don’t understand how it works — or that they have a role in it and how they can best do that role. You can’t sit in the development office waiting for them to figure it out. Plus be patient, take baby steps and keep it simple. You ALL have LOTS on your plates!
So…Go to them. Again.
During my years leading development at the UW Foundation, I made a point of attending each department’s all-faculty meeting at least once a year. (I had 23 Departments and 14 Centers)
My message?
- You are important to me and I am listening.
- What are you working on?
- What do you need?
- What are you dreaming about that isn’t in the budget? (And, aren’t we always having budget cuts in higher ed?)
- How would additional resources help you?”
And I discovered something that seems almost ridiculously basic.
Some faculty didn’t realize THEY could make a gift specifically to support their own department!
Think about that.
You can sit in the development office wondering:
How do we get more faculty, program staff, everyone in the place… to give?
(The old 100% staff giving goal!)
Meanwhile, someone down the hall may be thinking:
“I had no idea I could fund THAT!”
For many years I experienced 100% staff giving. Once you create a culture that understands how the partnership with development can help them support their own dreams they have passed an important first step. Your faculty, staff, program leaders and volunteers are the people who know your mission most intimately and can best help move their own programs forward AND help you help ALL your donors.
The Advancement team THEN can take Step 2, and both empower those faculty, and join with them personally, to additionally bring opportunities back to their people. It doesn’t mean Advancement ‘Takes over’ the relationship! It means we say, “Good luck with that.” We trust each other to have the giver’s goals at the forefront and work together.
Yes, you CAN fund that! And it’s exciting to see your internal “family” understand what generosity does for them, personally, in their area, and for their dreams and visions.
At SWTC, Dennis Cooley and Stacia Stephenson have good relationships with the faculty and leadership. The goal – create even MORE success for their departments by helping them understand how they can give themselves and partner to strengthen their areas.
Coming up next time: Our workshop provided faculty and leadership ideas THEY COULD SEE THEMSELVES DOING to CLEARLY share with their people — alumni, advisory council members, industry and community partners who already have a connection to their work — the impact they can create with generosity.
So ask, (again) the people closest to your mission what THEY see that philanthropy could make possible? And help make their own giving fun and beneficial for their areas and rewarding for them!
Here’s the punch line — Getting everyone on board doesn’t mean turning everyone into a fundraiser. It means creating a culture where everyone understands that generosity is one more way to advance your mission. (right up there with teaching, research, programs, etc.)
So before you ask: “How do we get more people to give?”
Try asking: “Do the people within our “family” even know they CAN?”
Because sometimes the beginning of a wonderful gift isn’t: “Yes, I’ll give.”
It’s… “I had no idea I could fund THAT!” Wohoo!!!
And remember…. You GET to be a fundraiser — ALL the time and GET to share a bit of the JOY you bring your givers with all of your partners!
SO much opportunity…together!
Invest in Joy!™
