Make Your Random Acts of Charity Less Random

Recently, I opened my home mailbox to find no less than five, large packets stuffed with Christmas cards from non-profits, along with accompanying solicitation letters asking for donations.  I had never given to these charities before; obviously they bought my name from some mailing list.

Cleaning oceans engulfed in plastic. Adopting stray cats and dogs who need a forever home.  Providing holiday gifts for abused and abandoned single mothers and their tots.  Buying hockey sticks and equipment for youth wanting to play sports who can’t afford the equipment. Making magic by providing funds for a local theatre company. Funding museums teaching us our past and pointing us toward our future. Partnering with universities and colleges that are educating our young people to creatively solve today’s challenges and find tomorrow’s emerging opportunities. 

Which of these causes are worthy of my donation?  One? Two? Or, all of them? As director of fundraising at the University of Victoria, I know firsthand the agonizing decision people go through when asked for a donation.  People want to be generous, especially at this time of year. But they are bombarded and overwhelmed by need. With more than 85,000 registered charities and non-profits in Canada, how can a person donate to be strategic and make an impact? 

Clearly donors are hard-pressed to decide where to give. While some find it hard to say yes, others find it just as difficult to say no.  There was a case in England a few years back where one 92-year-old woman had 3,000 charities asking her for money, and already depressed, she took her own life as she was not able to help them all.  More rationally, and more often than not, requests sent through the mail are either answered or put in a pile, some, sadly, never to be answered. Or the email a charity sends is deleted.  Or the many Text messages are omitted.

November 15 is National Philanthropy Day in North America. This is a good thing; a wonderful thing. The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) is an international association that has been celebrating National Philanthropy Day since 1986, and in 2012, the Canadian government signed into law a proclamation celebrating November 15 as National Philanthropy Day annually. Our local AFP is holding a celebration and awards ceremony on November 13 to mark the occasion, honouring local citizens, companies and organizations who make our community a better place through their generosity.  All those being honoured have one thing in common: they have made an impact.  They have achieved this through either their time, talent or “treasure,” i.e. a cash gift.   

As Winston Churchill once aptly said, “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”

Those being honoured on National Philanthropy Day have acted with forethought and with passion.  They have made a conscience effort to determine where, out of all the causes needing attention in our world today, they could make the greatest impact and be personally involved.  And that is where they have concentrated their efforts.

Right now, 20 percent of all registered tax payers in Canada make a donation.  I’m betting it’s much higher than that if you add in the contribution of people’s time and talents. Why do those of us who give, donate?  There are many reasons, but among them there is conclusive research conducted showing that giving makes us far happier than receiving.

In 2018, the Victoria Foundation and the University of Victoria jointly released a study showing that the total economic activity of registered charitable organizations in B.C.’s capital region is a little more than $4 billion, including funding distributed to clients or other donors. This level of spending supports some 122,000 jobs, which support almost $584 million in municipal taxes. There are clearly a lot of impassioned people – both professional fundraisers and generous, giving donors alike-- who are working to make our world a better place through philanthropy. Philanthropy is a love for humankind. That’s another good reason to donate our money, time and talent. Indeed, without all of us, the world would be in a lot worse shape than it is now.

To mark this National Philanthropy Day, instead of donating randomly to charity, consider making a conscience investment in causes and organizations that are near and dear to your heart whether it’s your child’s or your own alma mater, and/or an organization seeking to cure a disease that concerns you, and/or giving to make our community stronger. This holiday season, and all year long, when asked for a donation, remember besides investing your money, you can volunteer to help a cause for which you are passionate, and/or you can assist by being personally involved through lending your business acumen or talents.  Plan strategically to make it count, because it does.

Celebrating the Fundraising Life

There never seems to be enough time in the day to get everything done.

How many times have fundraisers been on conference calls, and simultaneously worked on an agenda for their next meeting, glanced at their to do list, and read and answered emails, all at the same time? Attention Deficit Disorder?  No; they are on fundraising time.

One of the chief complaints of the Development Officers is that they don't have enough time in the day, week, month to do all the data entries they need to do, make calls, send emails to donors, write proposals and think strategically about their fundraising work plans and priorities.  Yet, these daily tasks need to be done in order to record historical data, build pipelines, stay in touch with donors, move solicitations forward and plan for the future.

One email I read recently was from a woman named Elizabeth Abel, Assistant Vice President at CCS Fundraising, who wrote a short, practical list that suggests that summer is the time to think ahead to the fall and winter and plan out a fundraising calendar of upcoming donor activities and benchmarks, meetings, and events.  Her list also suggests that this is the time of year to develop donor engagement strategies and do some research on prospects, creating snapshots of people you want to contact for donors or volunteer activities, reviewing your pipeline of donors and revisiting solicitation dates and follow up moves marked for the fall.

The last thing on her list, but one that is very essential, is making time to celebrate recent accomplishments.

About three years ago, I developed something we have named "The Giftie Awards," which is basically a bedazzled, cut-out of a Marlett, our university's ficticious bird that has no feet.  The names of the awards have a sense of mirth with fun names, such as "You Had Me at Hello," and "Goodfellas," and "The Greatest Story Ever Told." These awards not only celebrate reaching our goals, but also recognize things like being the most helpful to our donors and to each other, being environmentally correct, being friendly, etc.  Wearing a boa, singing and making jokes, the host interjects the awards ceremony with an organizational-focused quiz, complete with prizes, to encourage people to learn about our institution, providing everyone with an educational opportunity and some year-end fundraising accomplishment statistics.  The event finishes with a door prize and long-term service awards.  This year, as we are over goal, we have a lot of reason to celebrate.  But hard work doesn't always pay off in annual dollars, as many times our programs need to grow.  People get recognized for the accomplishments that help them develop their pipelines, which will result in future dollars.  The Gifties started three years ago, when we didn't make our annual goal to encourage morale and congratulate people for a job well done; work that would build for the future.

The Gifties are based on the data stored in our Constituent Relationship Management database, The Raiser’s Edge.  It has helped me to instil why goal setting, metrics, recording in our database and other time-consuming necessities of fundraising are so important to gauge how we are doing, and how far we've come...and to recognize our successes, laugh and learn from our mistakes, commiserate and celebrate each other so we can do better in future to raise much-needed funds for our students, faculty, staff and university community who count on us day-in and day-out to help make their campus experience better for current and future generations.

No matter how fun the Gifties are, fundraisers should not wait for once a year to celebrate their achievements.  That’s because every day a fundraiser is at work, they are advancing a relationship; a relationship that will raise money one day to send someone to school, cure an illness, help a homeless person, save an animal, plant a tree, etc.  Together, hundreds of thousands of fundraisers are globally making our world a better place to live each and every day.  I’d say that’s a great reason to celebrate.   So, be sure to commend yourself each and every day before you make that first phone call or read that first email, or do both at the same time.  You deserve it. ​

Time To Think

Time To Think

More than 75 percent of fundraisers are women.  Besides managing their own time, and those of their donors, volunteers, bosses, colleagues and those who work for or with them, they are also, in many cases, busy being wives or girlfriends, daughters, sometimes mothers, pet parents, and the list goes on.  Multi-tasking is no stranger to men or women fundraisers.  How do we get it all done and keep our sanity?

It's astonishing to me that I've been fundraising for more than 30 years.  In that time, fundraising has developed from writing donor information on index cards and creating a paper filing systems, to computerizing offices with dedicated databases.  Every time there's a technological advance, we fundraisers are told these modern devices will save us time and energy.  Now, Blackbaud software manufacturer is coming out with NXT for The Raiser's Edge.  Again, we're told it's going to change our lives and give us more time.

Promises, promises.

Can't help thinking back to the time I was studying for my MBA in Non-Profit Management, when a young woman I know was planning to title her thesis, "No Time to Pee."  One of her three thesis supervisors refused to sign off on her thesis unless she changed the title.  Indeed, "no time to pee" has been a mantra of mine since the early 1980s.

One of my fundraising colleagues recently said this very thing to me as she entered my office, threw down her purse, and begged forgiveness as she borrowed five minutes from our meeting to run to the washroom because, she said, she had no time to pee that day.

How can a person organize their life and find a work/life balance?

First published in 1989, Stephen Covey wrote a business and self-help book entitled, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide and was deemed as one of the most influential business books of all time.  I recently had a refresher course as part of a leadership workshop at the university where I work. These principles are always effective to organize one's mind, and while they may not give us a much-needed bathroom break, engaging in these practices, will allow a person to have a more balanced, productive life that can be lived with grace and elegance, and enable us to not feel as rushed and beholden to outside influences that distract us from our own goals.

Each chapter in Covey's book is dedicated to one of the habits, which are represented by what are termed as imperatives; a thing that is essential or urgent.

The first three habits move a person from dependence to independence, or mastery.

1 - Be proactive:

Here, Covey talks about the concept of Circle of Influence and Circle of Concern. This basically means that a person should work from the centre of their influence and constantly strive to expand it. Don't sit and be in a reactive mode, waiting for problems to happen (Circle of Concern) before taking action. The longer you sit and worry about a problem, the worse it becomes.  Sometimes you can't sleep because of just thinking about it, and what is the good of that?  Confront the issue, and the problem will resolve: perhaps not always in the way you want, but it will resolve and you can move onto the next challenge.  And, yes, there will be a next one.  And one after that, and one after that.

2 - Begin with the end in mind:

Try to envision what you want, what is your end-game, so you can work and plan towards it. You need to write out your own mission statement, with your principles and values, and then make all your decisions according to who you are.  Are you - right now - who you want to be? What do you want people to say about you now?  How do you want to be remembered? You will stray off the path time and time again.  Of course you will; you are human.  Keep going and keep growing.

3 - Put first things first:

This principle talks about the difference between leadership and management. Leadership in the outside world begins with personal vision and personal leadership.  It also talks about determining for yourself just what is important and what is urgent, stating that priority should be given in the following order:

1) Important and Urgent

2) Important and not Urgent

3) Not Important and Urgent

4) Not Important and not Urgent

And guess what, you get to decide all of the above according to Step 2: because you need to be a proactive leader.  Others have their idea of what is urgent and important, according to them.  But, once you write your mission statement, you should work and be guided according to your own agenda, not the agenda of others.

The next three Habits talk about independence, or working with others.

4 - Think win-win:

Now you are the master of your own destiny.  You are in control.  However, you are dealing with other human beings who are also captains of their own ship; kings or queens of the world.  Be sure to treat everyone with kindness, as you would have them treat you. Where have we heard that before? Have genuine feelings for mutually beneficial solutions or agreements in your business - and personal -- relationships. Value and respect people by understanding that a "win" for all is ultimately a better, long-term resolution than if only you get your own way.  This is a basic code for interaction and collaboration. It's better to be good, rather than right.

5 - Seek first to understand, then to be understood:

Use empathetic listening to genuinely understand a person. This compels them to reciprocate the listening and take an open mind to being influenced by you. In turn, this creates an atmosphere of caring, and positive problem solving.

a) Work on your own Emotional Bank Account, which is your personal credibility, or the trust that you inspire.

b) Be empathetic, aligning your own trust with the emotional trust of another person during communications.

c) Be logical, but remember that reasoning comes into play after your character, and your relationships.

6 - Synergize:

Combine the strengths of people through positive teamwork. This will help achieve goals that no one could have done alone.

7 - Continual improvement:

The final habit is that of continual improvement in both the personal and interpersonal spheres of influence.  Be sure to balance and renew your resources, energy, and health to create a sustainable, long-term, effective lifestyle. Exercise, volunteer, pray, meditate or engage in yoga, and allow time for reading.

After sufficient time for reflection, Covey added an addendum in the form of an 8th habit:

8 - Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.

Covey coined the idea of abundance mentality or abundance mindset, a concept whereby a person believes there are enough resources and successes to share with others. He contrasts it with the scarcity mindset, founded on the idea that if someone else wins or is successful in a situation, that means you lose; not considering the possibility of all parties winning.  Individuals with an abundance mentality are able to celebrate the success of others rather than feel threatened by it.

Of course, I need to re-read and refresh my own dedication to these principles.  After all, I am only human and I sometimes fall back into my old routines.  But with determination to always learn and refresh tried and true methods of getting hold of my life's purpose, I can find time to stop and smell the flowers, among other of life's necessities!

Growing Our Own

"Mommy, I'd like to be a fireman when I grow up"

"I want to be a doctor"

"When I grow up, I want to be a fundraiser."

Which of the above statements is still not happening?

Way back when a public relations job became available in my former university's development department, I applied and became a fundraising professional. At that time many people were sliding into fundraising the same way.

Today, with all the certificate, diploma and degree programs in non-profit fundraising, one would hope that more young people would be trained to be development officers.  But that is not the case.  There are less and less qualified people submitting resumes for good-paying, fundraising jobs, with plenty available.

Each April many non-profit organizations start a new fiscal year, my own organization included.  Last year was challenging, but through the art and science of philanthropy, the passion and dogged-determination of everyone on staff and in management, we've succeeded in steering through several storms and coming out ahead of goal.

However, with any growing staff who span the range from Millennials to the Baby Boomers, there have been missed days due to maternity leave, health and other related absences, people resigning for new career opportunities, and those who are retiring. We need to fill the vacancies, and this is one of the most difficult challenges. It is hard to find qualified, seasoned fundraisers to rebuild our ever-evolving, fundraising team.

My organization is not alone.  According to "Predicting the Future," by Marnie A. Spears, retiring President and CEO of KCI, in Issue 1, 2018, of "Philanthropic Trends Quarterly," the question of finding, hiring, managing and developing talent has long been an issue for our sector and profession, and these days it's taking up more time and energy.

Other senior, non-profit leaders are recognizing that while the average length of a fundraiser's tenure has always been 18 months, today there is even a greater problem as there is a deficit of seasoned talent in the fundraising pool.  More and more millennials are seeking career growth at a faster pace and are jumping between organizations.  Estimates are that it takes between two to seven years for a Major Gifts Officer to be fully functioning in their job.  Except for a few, solid staffers, that goal of keeping someone two to seven years is becoming harder for managers to realize.

Experienced managers are recognizing rather than looking outside the organization, growing one's own fundraising staff from within may be the best way to achieve stability.  Often this will take intensive training and pushing some newer fundraisers beyond their comfort boundaries.

Professional development and apprenticeship training are some of the best ways to grow bench strength.  I have build an extensive library of fundraising resources that I loan out, and every two months I prepare and provide two-hour, professional development sessions for my staff, regardless of their skill level.  Those who are less experienced benefit and the seasoned pros provide their own insights and refresh their skills.  For each new arrival to our fundraising team, regardless of skill level, I assign a staff member mentor/buddy to guide them through the systems and bureaucracy and provide them with someone to call upon for help.

The national and local chapters of Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Canadian Association of Gift Planners provide group and online training, and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education is another organization with regional, national, international and on-line training sessions.  Academic Impressions is one more group that has online resources available to build fundraising acumen.

This past year I took a hard look around my development department. Our career trajectory was flat-lining.  The jump from administrative assistant to coordinator was a relatively easy one, but the transition from coordinator to development officer was too great a distance to bridge.  Getting entry-level personnel was relatively easy compared to finding skilled development officers trained to raise major gifts.  I took a look at the bright, talented, eager people in my office and realized that it was time to nurture their nascent, fundraising talent.  They may not have been born fundraisers, but with a little help, they can learn to be great ones.

At a university, student callers and ambassadors looking to join the team as administration staff, is the most obvious way to recruit.  But, there are probably other individuals who may want to join the fundraising team. These individuals can be found in co-op recruitment, marketing, sponsorship, or government relations, to name a few. With the proper training, their skills can be morphed into helping build a culture of philanthropy. However, they cannot be expected to walk in the door and raise major gifts. For that, I have created a soft-landing with the creation of an associate development officer position.  The person in this position is expected to learn the ropes, but not to deliver strategies or have intra-organization impact during their first few years on the job.  Their learning curb will be more sloped and incremental, and at leadership giving levels during their first few years of training.

Once up to speed, they can be expected to apply for the development officer jobs that become available.  After three years as a full development officer, those with determination can build up to solicit transformational giving, and can apply to be a senior development officer.  This succession planning may hopefully help recruit my own (distant future) replacement as Director of Fund Development.

The One That Got Away

The One That Got Away

As professional fundraisers, we know that each time we ask a prospect or donor for a gift - be they an individual, a corporation or a foundation - we will most likely be turned down two or three times for every "yes" we receive.  At the beginning of one's career, we may even be rejected more often, until we learn that fundraising is not about asking for money, it's about relationship building - in order to ask for money.

In Major Gifts fundraising, we know that if we are turned down, we must ask ourselves, "What was the reason for the rejection?"

1)      Was I the correct person to ask?

2)      Was the project right for this donor?

3)      Was the "ask" too high?

4)      Was the timing off for the donor?

With an individual donor, they will usually tell us flat out why they are turning us down.  With a foundation or a corporation, most likely, all we will receive in return for our hard work will be a form letter from the Program Officer at the Foundation or Corporation who processed our request, politely thanking us for applying.

As we do with Major Gift individuals, we must take the time to be reflective and try to understand why our proposal was declined.  Before picking up the phone to call the Foundation Officer, it's a good idea to review the steps taken prior to submission, to see if we've missed the mark somewhere.

Prior to submitting a proposal, we as fundraisers will do all the necessary research and read all the information on the foundation/corporation's web site to find a good fit between their funding priorities and our proposal, and to ensure that we are following their guidelines.  If the foundation/corporation states they do not fund salaries or capital projects, we should never try to disguise these factors in the body of the proposal, even though our employer, Executive Directors or other managers might pressure us to do so.  If the foundation or corporation doesn't fund what we need, we must do further research and move on.

Before submission, we should review what non-profits, similar to ours, were funded by the particular foundation/corporation in the past.  We then broaden our research and possibly call those non-profits and ask their Development Officers how much they originally asked for, what they were funded for and how much they eventually received.  Other fundraisers are usually open to giving advice to colleagues about the process and providing solicitation tips.

Once armed with this information, we can pick up the phone and find out who at the foundation/corporation will be reviewing the grant proposal.  Usually, there will be a Program Officer assigned to a particular portfolio, be it health, environment, etc.  Call to discuss the proposal with them, ensuring that the information on their web site is up-to-date, that they are not overcommitted financially, are still accepting proposals, and that the proposal is something they actually might consider.

Program Officers may say, "Yes, we funded X number of projects like yours last year, but this year, our board wants to go in a different direction."  Or they may say, "Yes, that's what is on our web site, but our board voted at their last meeting to change direction and we haven't had a chance to update the web site yet." Or, they may say, "Yes, we funded you five years in a row, but our board says they now want a two-year hiatus period after a five-year funding cycle."  Priorities can change quickly.  Get to understand their current focus.

Ask if they would review a draft of your proposal, or if you could call upon them with specific questions.  This will help develop a relationship with the Program Officer, which is essential to funding a successful proposal.  And if the Program Officer or their committee members do site visits, invite them out.

Now that we have reflected on steps prior to submission, and we have still received a terse, but polite letter from the organization turning us down, we do need to find out what happened.

Was the rejection due to:

 1)     The current foundation priorities no longer being a fit for our non-profit's request?

2)      The foundation's annual budget already being spent?

3)      The foundation leadership having their own, pet causes?

4)      The project not being a right fit because the foundation funded too many similar proposals?

5)      The "ask" being too high or low?

6)      The proposal not being well written?

The way to find out is to pick up the phone and call the Program Officer and ask specifically why the proposal was turned down.  If, for some reason they can't recall the proposal, email it to them to refresh their memory, and then call back in a week to discuss.

Listen politely, be courteous and don't argue.  Any fundraiser who submits a proposal will have invested a lot of time and energy into its creation, but be open to their comments.  The Program Officer may say the proposal was unorganized, or the budget was not sufficiently justified, etc.  Be calm and cool and thank them for their honest feedback.  Ask if the proposal can be reworked and resubmitted.  If yes, ask if they would be kind enough to provide feedback prior to the next submission. If not, thank them anyway.  This builds a stronger, future working relationship with the Program Officer.  And, this is what fundraising is all about: relationship building.

Email Overload

Email Overload

Over the holiday season I read a number of articles on how to kick-start fundraising for the new year. Several of them touted the finer points of emails, providing tips on how to get optimal usage and communicate with donors.

I’m all for establishing the very best in email practices. However, in my view, emails are greatly overused.  According to a study by the Radicati Group, there are 215 billion emails sent out every day, which comes to 145 emails per minute. That’s a lot of emails competing for attention.  

Think about your own In Box.  How many emails do you send to the Trash without even reading them?  Quite a lot, I'm sure.  I’ve heard countless tales of woe from fundraisers who get upset when donors don’t respond, even when they’re using snazzy Subject lines, being relevant and friendly, and getting right to the point.  Why are they ignoring me, the fundraiser asks?  

Well, they probably aren’t ignoring you. Your donors are very busy people. More than likely they haven’t seen your email.

Let me suggest this; pick up the phone and call your donors as a first resort.  Or, if you need to send them a note of introduction, think about snail mailing them with a hand-written letter and envelope.  After all, how many actual, hand-written letters do we receive these days?  Most of us get a lot of junk mail and bills. Very few of us get hand-written letters.  My prediction: a hand-written letter in a hand-addressed envelope will stand out and may even get read.

I’m not talking about mass mailings.  I’m talking about a personalized, one-on-one communication to an individual donor.  

Sure, you can email, wait a few weeks for a reply, then try emailing again. Or, you could write a personalized note via snail mail and a week later follow up with a phone call.  This way, you know they’ve probably read your letter and they will be aware that you’ll be calling.  

Better still, you may be astounded how personal correspondence prompts a donor to pick up the phone and call you first. By the way, enclose your phone number.

As Director of Fund Development at a university, whenever I send out student letters of gratitude to my donors, I do not sent a typed, cover letter.  I take the time to hand write a personal note that highlights certain points in an attached student letter. I thank them and inquire after their life.  My donors have told me that they read every letter I send them.  

Hand-written mail is getting to be a lost art.  

Think about it.

New Year's Resolutions for Fundraisers

No matter how seasoned or how talented a fundraiser you are, there is always room for improvement.  So, what better time to make fundraising resolutions than the start of a new year?

Resolution One: Take Care of Yourself

Fundraising is a high-pressure job, and one that is much more than nine-to-five.  If you’re not on the job, you are thinking about the job,  planning for the job, or reliving the job in your sleep.  Plan time to look after yourself; exercise, eat right, meditate, be with friends and family and simply relax.  You are your organization’s greatest resource.  If you’re not healthy, you will suffer and so will your work.  

If you aren’t able to do this on your own, try some professional help. May I suggest a coach, a nutritionist, or a guru?  

Resolution Two: Say “No”

Give yourself permission to not take on more than you can handle, both personally and professionally.  No one says you have to do it all.  If your boss gives you too many tasks with too short a deadline, learn to say, “I can do A or B, but not both at the same time. Which is the priority?”  Learn that you can turn down a time consuming volunteer activity that will suck your energy.  Learn that it’s OK to not go out every weekend. Take moments. Sit in silence. Contemplate.  Go for a walk in the woods.  Read a book.  Paint a picture.  No one is judging you, but you.  Learn to pace yourself.

Resolution Three:  Carpe Diem … Seize the Day

In fundraising, you must grab your opportunities.  Sometimes, that means moving forward before you have all your ducks in a row.   The idea is to master your job and do the best you can.  Too many fundraisers procrastinate and use the excuse of planning, researching, and writing to keep them from doing what they need to do. Don’t put off getting out the door because your case statement isn’t perfect or your research isn’t 100 percent complete.  Doing your best also means getting a move on.  Don’t let opportunities pass you by.  

Resolution Four:  Failure is A Teacher

If you don’t fail, you will never succeed.  While he was inventing the light bulb, Thomas Edison is supposed to have said, “I have not failed.  I've just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” 

Many fundraisers, through no fault of their own, have had little experience with failure: they grew up when everyone got an award for showing up at sports and at school.  Now, in “the real world” there will be failure.  Take that sentence in: There WILL be failure.  Donors won’t return your call.  Donors will say "no" to making a gift.  Prospects will say "no" to taking a meeting.  You won’t meet your goals, your targets, your own expectations. But that’s OK.  You will learn from your mistakes.  Failure is a teacher.  It will make you stronger.  Be a phoenix: rise and face the next challenge.  

Resolution Five: Be A Bizarro Fundraiser

Bizarro is a fictional character appearing in American comic book published by DC Comics.  Bizarro was created in 1958 as a "mirror image" or opposite of Superman. Why am I suggesting you become a Bizarro version of yourself?  So you can see how the other half lives, at least for a day or two.  If you’re an over-planner, try being spontaneous for a day or two.  If you’re a doer who doesn’t take time to think before you talk, try slowing down, planning and preparing.  Are you argumentative?  Try finding ways to agree with someone for a spell.  Do you find yourself not expressing yourself because you’re shy?  Whistle a happy tune so you won’t be afraid, or go to Toastmasters. Learn to speak and learn to speak up.  See what happens when you break out of your rut.  

Resolution Six: Get Your Fundraising Ducks in a Row

Who loves metrics and sitting in front of a computer recording one’s every move on a database?  If you’ve already answered “Yes,” that’s great. But it's rare. If not, this year plan to set aside a half hour at the end of every day to record your actions in order to capture all the good work you did during the day, and record it for the sake of your organization’s corporate knowledge.  You’ll get credit and protect your donors’ interests at the same time.

Resolution Seven: The PET Plan

The PET Plan is setting aside time for the Phone, Email and Thinking.  Now that you’re following Resolution Six and are using half an hour every day for logging entries onto the database, let’s add the PET Plan to your To Do list.  First, set aside an hour twice a week (Monday and Thursdayafternoons, perhaps) to make phone calls to line up prospect/donor meetings for the following week.  If you do this every week, twice a week, you’ll actually end up doing it and making calls and getting meetings.  What about emails; those tempting, available procrastinations that are now likely at your fingertips thanks to the Smartphone glued to the end of your hand?  Set aside three times a day to look and answer them, and no more than that: when you first get into the office, at lunch time, and after you’ve entered your actions into your database.  It will be hard at first, but removing yourself from these addictive time sucks will set you free. Free to do what: To think (that’s the “T” in PET).    Who has time to think these days? Not those who are on their email constantly, that I can assure you.  Thinking strategically is a necessity, not a luxury.

Resolution Eight: Find a Mentor or Be One

Fundraising is a Team Sport.  It is also a continually high-pressure, evolving sport.  If you don’t have someone you can trust, someone you can talk to, someone you can seek advice from...find someone.  Where can you look?  The Association of Fundraising Professionals has a mentor program.  Or, if you admire a certain fundraiser in your city, go to them and ask for advice.  If after a few times of speaking with them, you like the advice they give, ask them if they would act as your mentor.  Go ahead, they won’t bite; in fact they probably will be very flattered.  Or, if you are a seasoned fundraiser who would like to be a mentor, talk about your desire to do so when in gatherings with your colleagues.  Someone is bound to take you up on it.  It will do you both good and you will both learn from each other.

Resolution Nine: Use Your Lifeline

Now that you have your mentor, coach, or guru, etc., learn to call on them when you have a small problem or concern before it grows into a big one.  It’s OK to ask for help.  It doesn’t mean you’re weak, or unprofessional or inexperienced or unknowledgeable.  It means you want some feedback, some validation, some advice: see Resolutions One through Eight.  

Resolution Ten: The Sign of Three

It’s hard to break old habits, and it would be hard to do all of the above resolutions right out of the gate.  Start small and work your way up.  Try three resolutions this month and see how it goes from there.  Next month you could add on another three.  Each of us is different with different needs.  Don’t get overwhelmed.  Pace yourself and good luck.  You’re worth it.