Sangha Solutions

Somewhere in the South Pacific, between Tonga and Tahiti, there exists a small, uncharted island populated by a secret society of expert Board fundraisers.  These are the volunteers every nonprofit has been looking for.  The island’s inhabitants possess an unrelenting passion for our mission, with Rolodexes the size of encyclopedias.  They don’t think twice when asked to write large checks to support our work, and absolutely love asking their friends for money!

I know that this mythical island exists.  It must, because nearly every client I’ve worked with insists that they can’t find the “right” people to serve on their volunteer Boards.

If you’re like most organizations, I’m guessing that you think your Board doesn’t have the thick checkbooks or strong networks to help win your development campaign.  But armed with the proper motivation and support, any Board can fundraise!  Start by asking  and answering these five simple questions:

1) Are you being clear and specific about fundraising expectations when recruiting new Board members?  Or do you shy away from addressing these responsibilities in a direct manner because you’re worried about scaring them off?

2) Do you meet with each Board member at the start of the fiscal year to thank them for their support and to develop a short, collaborative, and manageable fundraising plan that they can follow throughout the year?

3) Do you check in with your Board members regularly throughout the year, monitoring their progress, identifying where they’re falling short, and sharing their successes – large or small – with others?

4) For those Board members who seem reluctant to engage in fundraising, have you sat down with them and asked them why?  In other words, have you identified where their comfort zones lie and what it would take to make them feel more comfortable with fundraising for our cause?

5) Do you have advocates within your Board that can reinforce the important messaging around fundraising?  And do those advocates bolster their words through personal action and example?

When we begin to treat our Boards as genuine partners in fundraising work, listening and communicating clearly and consistently, it’s amazing what we can accomplish together.

If your nonprofit is seeking to raise more money, strengthen its leadership capacity, or develop more clarity around its mission and goals, please contact Sangha Solutions at steve@SanghaSolutions.org for a free initial consultation.

If you grew up in the Washington D.C. area like I did, you might remember the story of Mohini.  Mohini was a rare white tiger, given to President Eisenhower as a gift from India, who lived for many years in the old Lion House at the National Zoo in Rock Creek Park.  Her home wasn’t much to look at – just a twelve-by-twelve-foot cage with iron bars and a cement floor.  Mohini, which means “Enchantress,” spent day after day pacing back and forth in her cramped quarters.  Eventually, the zoo’s staff created a natural habitat for her, which spanned several acres filled with hills, trees, and a pond.  With much excitement and fanfare, the zoo released Mohini into her new home.  So what did Mohini do?  She immediately sought refuge in a small corner of the expansive compound, pacing back and forth until an area of twelve-by-twelve feet was worn bare of the green, lush grass that once grew there.  And she stayed there for the remainder of her life.

We have a strong tendency to live our lives in a contracted way.  And after a while, we begin to see ourselves as small, forgetting to lift our heads and take in the largeness of the world around us.  We forget that choices actually exist, remaining trapped in the comfortable, well-worn, and delimiting patterns of our existence.

Recently, I was thinking of Mohini while working with my nonprofit clients, many of which have small budgets and even smaller perceptions of what they can achieve.  “We don’t have a big Board of Directors or major donors,” many organizations tell me.  “There’s only so much we can do.”  And indeed, when our vision is small, our results will follow along the same path.  The task facing an effective fundraising consultant is to help a client recognize that their world might be a little bigger than what they see.  When we make that shift, when we start seeing ourselves as powerful and free from our self-imposed limitations and beliefs, there’s no telling what might happen.

If your nonprofit is seeking to raise more money, strengthen its leadership capacity, or develop more clarity around its mission and goals, please contact Sangha Solutions at steve@SanghaSolutions.org for a free initial consultation.

You’ve probably heard that it takes 21 days to make or break a habit.  I was reminded of this truism recently when, of all things, I accidentally ran my Honda’s remote keyless entry through the washing machine.

My carelessness wouldn’t have resulted in tremendous inconvenience if it wasn’t for the fact that my driver’s side, front-door lock had been damaged a few years ago.  So, to get into my car, I had to manually unlock the passenger door, reach all the way through the vehicle to trigger the lock release button, and then walk around to the driver’s side to get inside.  It’s been a busy few months, so it took me a few weeks to schedule an appointment with the dealership to get a new keyless remote.

In the days that followed, however, I found I had developed a new habit.  Despite the shiny keyless remote I now carried in my pocket, I instinctively began entering my car in the “new” way to which I had become accustomed.  Although it took far more energy to get into my car in this fashion, the power of habit had firmly taken root.

Most of us struggle every day in the practice of habits.  And yet we know that supportive, behavioral patterns ultimately help us achieve our personal and professional goals.  As Dr. Andrew Weil says, anything we do with repetition and emotion will become our reality.  If we are not satisfied with our current experience, we can simply examine our habits.

As nonprofit fundraisers, most of us are celebrating the end of another challenging twelve months.  As we mark the start of the New Year, I’d encourage you to signal your willingness to embrace positive change by identifying a single affirming habit that can lead your organization to success.  As for me, I’m committing myself to this new daily habit: to place one phone call to a donor at the beginning of every day to thank them for their support and let them know how their investment is making a difference.

What will your new habit be?

If your nonprofit is seeking to raise more money, strengthen its leadership capacity, or develop more clarity around its mission and goals, please contact Sangha Solutions at steve@SanghaSolutions.org for a free initial consultation.