The efficiency, predictability and control we’ve come to expect of complicated machines has evolved into a worldview that informs nearly every aspect of our contemporary lives.
The legacy of Taylor’s stopwatch and Ford’s assembly line is easy to find in our contemporary fundraising practices.
We expect fundraising to behave like a machine; we flip on the switch when times get tough, then overlook and ignore it until we are in trouble again. We rarely take the time to ensure that fundraising has become an essential part of our identity from the very beginning.
Many of the social, economic and political challenges that our organizations are addressing have their origins in the Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment, when everything was assumed to be efficient, predictable and within our control.
All this can be said of our contemporary approach to fundraising. And it’s failing.
We think differently: We believe fundraising should be Responsive.
At Responsive Fundraising, we partner with leaders who want to turn back the clock in order to create places where fundraising can be holistic, meaningful and sustainable; where fundraising can thrive.
We rely on a multi-disciplinary approach to helping you increase Your organization’s fundraising capacity.
Before we have anything to say about fundraising, we are a professional learning community that recognizes our clients as the experts in the room; we are an organizational design firm that relies on an always evolving set of sense-making tools, and we are a platform company which allows us to elevate and celebrate the voices of those at the fringe who always have the bravest and boldest ideas.
To be of greatest service to your organization, we have to be closer to the field; willing to get our hands dirty; and have the hearts of explorers, confident in uncharted territory.
Your challenges have much less to do with fundraising strategy and instead reflect a misalignment of your approach to:
organizational design,
professional development,
technology.
When these three cultural powerhouses work together, your organization becomes a place where fundraising can thrive.
Drawing from insights in behavioral economics, complexity science, and cognitive psychology, we invite you to discover how our frameworks can help you create an environment where fundraising can thrive.
In The War for Fundraising Talent, we introduced a vivid framework for ensuring that nonprofits have a shared understanding of how fundraising really works. In addition to providing a resource for planning and evaluating fundraising performance, our four frameworks address many of the all-too familiar roadblocks that organizations encounter as they cultivate their donors towards greater levels of support. Implemented effectively, these capacity-building tools can become the centerpiece of communication between the development office, the executive suite and the boardroom.
SenseMaking Tools
When it comes to fundraising, it’s especially easy to point fingers at donor attrition, professional turnover, a disengaged board, or a weak economy as the culprits. However, the most entrenched challenges cannot be effectively addressed by casting blame but, instead, require an understanding of the underlying patterns and habits that perpetuate our problems. Our four sense-making tools help your organization make sense of what’s working in your favor and what’s getting in your way.
A Holistic, Human-Centered Approach
Organizations of all shapes and sizes would like to have the advantages that come with consistent, unrestricted support from a dedicated group of donors. Unfortunately, most nonprofits have failed to do the hard work of creating a place where fundraising can thrive. As a result, these organizations either become overly reliant on new donor acquisition or attempt major fundraising initiatives for which they and their donors are unprepared. Creating a place where fundraising can thrive means talent becomes critically important, operational support becomes sustainable, and meaningful relationships become the driving force behind your success.