Creative ways to say "no"
I have managed and worked with nonprofit boards for over a decade and I had a boss for about as long.
I can tell you that so much of fundraising growth is about managing expectations and keeping the main thing, the main thing.
Distractions are everywhere. Opportunities always pop up.
So, I thought I would make a list of ways to say "no" creatively to your board members AND to your boss.
Before we jump in, keep in mind:
Where there is a lack of focus, there is a lack of funding.
So, saying "no" is one of the best ways to keep focus.
The more you take on, the more complex your nonprofit becomes.
Complexity stalls growth. Simplicity accelerates growth.
Keep it simple.
What are the 3 main ways you plan to raise money? Stick to that. That's it.
Here's a strategic plan for you:
Call your donors. Everyday. Personally contact a donor everyday in the way you will actually do it. Phone calls are still king.
Go through your donor list or CRM and decide how much you are going to ask these folks for. Ask before they typically give.
Do something fun. Run a campaign or virtual event or special project that allows you to build community among your donors and bring them closer to the impact.
There you go! There's a strategic plan! It's solid and SIMPLE.
The most important plan is the one you'll actually do.
So, without further ado, here's my list of cReAtiVE ways to say "No".
Some of them are funny, but sort of true. Like a joke, but no... seriously, I mean it. No really, there are some that are jokes. I hope you get it and definitely not say it to someone. But, it was fun to write, I gotta say!
Creative ways to say “No” to your board:
“Our focus right now is X, but I would like to continue the conversation about this in the fall.”
“Can we table that for now?”
“I love that you’re thinking about X. We actually address that with our current strategy Y. I’d be happy to tell you more about it.”
“Let’s revisit this idea in July. I'm making a note to follow up with you then.”
“Thank you for this idea. What I like about it is X. We are prioritizing A, B, and C this quarter. How would you like to be a part of either of those projects?”
“Great point. That is part of phase 3 or 4 in our current plan.”
“Would you be willing to work on that?”
“Thank you for your feedback. We are in total agreement and plan to address this next quarter.”
“Our budget is spoken for this year, but I’d love to revisit this conversation in our planning for next year.”
"You know what, Rhea brought that up last board meeting and we have a meeting on the calendar about it in two weeks."
"Do you have a connection to Jeff Bezos, because we don't. We'd love to set up a meeting with you and Jeff Bezos. Can you make that happen?"
"A golf tournament is certainly an idea, but we'd like to prioritize events that are connected to our mission. What other ideas do you have?"
"We're focusing on building relationships with our donors instead of incentivizing sponsorships. I'd love for you to be a part of that. What do you think?"
"Will you be funding the new position for the whole person we'll need to hire just to do this project?"
LOL please don't say that last one, it's a joke to those of you who didn't catch that. 😂
Creative ways to say “No” to your boss:
“So, right now my top priorities are A, B and C. Which one would you like me to let go of and replace with this new idea?”
“I agree. Let’s put it on our list to discuss next quarter.”
“It sounds like a great idea, but I honestly think it distracts from our current goals. Here’s why I think that…”
“I’d like to keep our focus on the goals we set together. Do you agree?”
“I think our plan to do X accomplishes that.”
“I think this will impede on putting all of our energy towards X.”
“Can I make the call on this one?”
“This feels like a right opportunity, wrong time situation to me. I think we should pass.”
“I like the strategy we have in motion. I’m confident we’ll succeed.”
“My gut says this would be taking on too much. I don’t want to wear out the team.”
“I think it’s important to focus entirely on X right now. What do you think?”
“We said no to X last year and I’m glad we did. Aren’t you? It would have been too much. I think we can pass on this too.”
“We don’t need to do this.”
“This doesn’t seem mission-critical.”
"I think we'd be ensuring failure with our current goals if we chose to take this new project on."
“This feels out of the scope of what we do. Let’s focus on X. I think we'll be glad we did.”
"We've invested so much time, energy and resources into X. I think doing Y would be a mistake."
“Remember that we agreed on X? Are you sure we should take away from that?”
“That’s a great idea that works for them, but X has started to work well for us. I think we should stick to it and see it through.”
“We are already doing X test. I’d rather not take on another experiment so I can see the one we’re doing through.”
“There is no bone in my body that wants to do that.”
“If we take this on, I would have to delay X another 6 months and I know that is really important to you.”
“This will slow us down. We are ramping up and I don’t want us to lose our momentum.”
“Julie Ordoñez, the major gifts expert, recommends that we focus on building relationships with donors, so I think investing in AI right now isn’t the best strategy for us to raise major gifts."
