The Community Centric Fundraising movement is growing every day. More and more fundraisers are learning and unlearning so they can put their community first in their fundraising strategies and practices. They’re looking for leaders who are willing to change and grow with them in their practice of Values-Based Fundraising.
This can be challenging for fundraising leaders, even those who are fully committed to becoming more community centric. Many leaders are learning and unlearning themselves. They’re still figuring out how to live the CCF principles in their fundraising strategy and practices, and in their leadership, while they’re being called on to lead their organization through change and uncertainty. It’s a lot.
We have some tips for fundraising leaders navigating these times of change – ways to support their teams (and themselves) as together they try new things. Leaders can:
Be explicit about how you’re using your organizational values in your decision-making. Share your thinking with your team and invite their input.
Be honest with your team about what you’re learning and unlearning, your concerns about proposed changes, and the challenges you face to implementing changes in your organization.
Support experimentation. Create a team environment where it’s safe to make mistakes and to fail and where everyone learns from those experiences.
Learn together. Carve out time in your team meetings or add regular lunch-and-learns
where you can all watch a webinar together or discuss an article you’ve read.
Budget for professional development. Allocate money to cover the cost of workshops and classes and allocate time to attend them and for independent study.
Share your fundraising strategies, any changes you’re making in your practices, and the reasons for them across your organization.
Collaborate with your team to set boundaries for donor interactions and let the fundraisers know you’ll back them up if they ask for support or choose to disengage with a donor who crosses one of these boundaries.
Let members of your fundraising team lead. They all bring valuable experiences, knowledge, skills, and perspectives. Learn from them. Follow them. You don’t always have to be the one with the answers.
We’re here for you. We’re eager to hear what’s working, what’s really hard, and what we can do to support you.
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