Dan Pallotta: Talking About Fundraising

Whether you agree with everything he says or not, listening to Dan Pallotta is always an invigorating experience. The idea that we, and only we, can bear the responsibility for communicating what we do in a sometimes hostile environment, is not one that we should argue with.

And yet, in the twenty years that I've worked in the fundraising sector, our complaint that we are misrepresented and misunderstood by our communities has not changed.

I believe that we have only ourselves to blame. If we, our boards and volunteers are not prepared to say why we use a particular fundraising technique, the benefits it brings and the impact it helps us to achieve, then we should NOT be doing it.

If we need to invest, we need to consult with and speak to our key stakeholders, those people who desperately want to see the impact we provide but usually have no idea what it takes to secure it. Why not? Because we make little or no effort to help them understand what we need to do to keep the show on the road. The majority don't want spreadsheets, smoke and mirrors. They're mature, thinking adults, and they can grasp the issues we face if we share them with them.

Dan Pallotta spoke in Australia about the Charity Defence League that he's working to establish. It’s an organization that will address these issues head on. I don't dispute the need for it; the shame is that we are the ones who are responsible for creating that need.

Dreams

I was at the Fundraising Institute of Australia Conference in Queensland recently, listening to Kay Sprinkel Grace talk about dreams. Kay spoke very eloquently about the need we all have to realize our dreams (although, if you’re like me, you struggle to remember them). As she spoke I realized that, to continue the analogy, AFP is a dreamcatcher.

All of us struggle at times to realize the best of what we have: to identify what we truly want, what our strengths are, and what we can truly achieve if we set our heart and mind to it. In a very real way, AFP can act as a dream catcher—a filter that allows us to identify and focus on what truly matters to us, and then help to re-purpose and craft the raw materials into something concrete. Through training, networking, mentoring and sharing of experiences, we come to realize what’s most important to us, and even more importantly, the heights we can achieve.

Andrea McManus, our chair, and I are continually struck by the richness that each of you has to offer. When you talk about what you want to accomplish—what kinds of dreams and goals you have—it changes us every time. It informs and focuses us. Much of what we have learnt over the past year from our interactions with members has led to new priorities, or a reemphasis on existing ones, for the entire AFP community.

It’s a great responsibility—to partner with you on your dreams for yourself, your organization and your community—but also an invigorating and inspiring one. So keep those dreams rolling in. They’re the raw materials that shape the future of AFP.

Here, There and Everywhere

Andrea and I traveled to Hong Kong to join leaders of our Singapore and Hong Kong chapters, as well as other members of the community.

It’s increasingly clear that the traditional chapter model in North America is not one that fits comfortably in this environment. The alternatives, however, are not clear, and there is a compelling case for market research to help us understand the needs of our communities her better. But we do have some new models and ideas that can be valuable, and one of them is the new organizational membership model.

It's a striking example of how similar many of our chapters are, regardless of where they are located. Hong Kong, like St. Louis, Edmonton or many others, has a significant number of smaller, grassroots organizations addressing social issues or community initiatives. These organizations need to protect their investment in AFP and have needs in addition to those of their staff. So we'll be working on a modified model of organizational membership categories that can be of benefit to fundraisers and nonprofits around the globe.

What's also clear is the impact that each of us can have by sharing our knowledge and experience with our fellow fundraisers. I hear this constantly from chapters all over North America and around the world. That’s one of the reasons we’ve introduced AFP2P, our new online networking community.

But there’s more we can do. One of our plans is to develop a travel register so we can introduce AFP member who are visiting certain countries and regions to chapters in the area. So let us know of your travel plans so that if you are able to, we can connect you to the local fundraising community during your visit. It’s a great example of shared benefits that strengthen the whole profession.