"I don't have time to raise more money"
"I don't have time or bandwidth or capacity (insert buzzword of your choice) to raise more money because I'm bogged down with admin or operations tasks"
Does this sound familiar?
That's why I'm doing a series on how to create time and space to do the things that will raise more money.
Just so we're on the same page, these are the things that will raise more money:
Meeting with donors
Emailing impact stories and organizational updates to donors
Hand-written thank you notes (heartfelt)
Updating CRM with meetings notes from conversations with donors
Courageous conversations with donors asking for more
Writing proposals or one-pagers asking for gifts
Thinking about and planning asks and donor engagement
Learning about your mission, program and impact - and sharing what you learn with donors
That's about it.
So, in order to clear out more time to do that 👆 let's talk about how to do that.
There are two things we must do in order to create more time for raising money:
Have courageous conversations advocating for what we need to do our job well
Hire part-time and/or full-time staff
I can help you come up with strategies and tactics that will raise more money. No doubt.
But if you are bogged down with admin crap, you won't implement those badass tactics.
Usually, what's really going on is this:
We're chicken.
We would rather hide behind the admin work that allows us to avoid asking people straight up for money, which is terrifying.
I get this. Intimately.
In order to move beyond this endless cycle that leads to burnout and our communities continuing to suffer (keeping it real), we have to be honest with ourselves.
Have I done everything I can to communicate what I need to be successful in this role? Why or why not?
Often, the people we work with who we report to (CEOs and board members) are ignorant of what it takes to raise a lot of money.
They aren't able to put it together that if you spend time doing low-level tasks, like collecting company logos for an upcoming event, that you are NOT out talking with a donor about giving $50k.
This is what I teach people to do inside my program CourageLab.
They get the courage and learn what to say to advocate for themselves, so they can raise more money.
They learn how to have conversations like this one:
"Hey boss, so I understand that you want me to collect company logos for the upcoming gala. If you want me to prioritize this, that would take away from time spent setting up meetings with donors for the rest of this month. Are you saying you'd like me to prioritize collecting logos over meeting with major donors?"
Uh, no.
Come ready with a solution: "My recommendation is that we hire a temporary admin assistant or intern to help with the logistics of this project."
Raising more money is about ongoing advocation for what you need to be successful in your role and making it CRYSTAL CLEAR to a board or boss who is ignorant.
This week I'm going to dive deep into this topic and share some scripts and practical tips on how to overcome this challenge.
There is hope. There is a better way.
I've experienced it myself throughout my career and helped dozens of CEOs and fundraisers do this too.
Disclaimer: The journey to advocate for yourself can lead to resigning from your job, no longer taking people's shit, getting a better sense of your self-worth and waking up to how much you tolerate.
If you are ready to stop accepting the scraps and raise serious money, I can lead you down that path. It's rarely traveled.
You're gonna have to leave behind the victim mentality, scarcity, and complaining though. We don't bring that garbage with us into this future.
The future ahead looks like self-respect, boundaries, sleeping well at night, raising a shit ton of money, having a team of people who are on a mission with you, and no longer acting like a martyr who carries the whole world on their shoulders.
Ready? Me too.
If you know that you need accountability and support to actually implement the right habits, my 6-week program CourageLab might be for you.
