BeneFactors

Overcome contemporary fundraising challenges and equip your non-profit or charity to meet the digital age head-on

Contemporary fundraisers and development professionals are meeting a new and challenging set of obstacles as they go out into the world and attempt to raise money for their causes and organizations.

In BeneFactors: Why Some Fundraising Professionals Always Succeed, a team of veteran philanthropy strategists and consultants delivers an exciting and practical playbook for modern fundraising that can be deployed in a variety of charitable and non-profit organizations and settings. You'll explore the eight factors you must master to exceed your fundraising goals in the modern era.

In the book, you'll discover:

• Strategies for navigating the digital fundraising transformation and how to guide your digital donors through the giving process
• How to use data science and predictive analytics to inform your decision-making process and find better results
• Ways to banish excessive risk aversion and uncover a boldness you didn’t know you had in you

An extraordinary and insightful handbook to fundraising in the digital age, BeneFactors: Why Some Fundraising Professionals Always Succeed is sure to find its way onto the bookshelves of board members, development professionals, and other leaders of fundraising teams and organizations.

Foreword vii

Acknowledgments xiii

About the Authors xv

Introduction xvii

After years of discussion and refinement, we settled on eight key characteristics, or factors, of the modern fundraiser. We believe these characteristics distinguish the greatest fundraisers from all who have gone before, and then we used those traits to fashion these concepts into persona-based chapters.

Chapter 1 The Data-Driven Factor 1

Is the growing emphasis on data science and predictive analytics a threat to the relationship builder? How might a frontline officer embrace data as an asset for building stronger relationships with the right people and the right things? Expect a practical understanding of data and decision science with nonthreatening practical applications.

Chapter 2 The Innovative Factor 27

Is it enough to pursue best practices? A modern fundraiser will be committed to determining what is best for their organization. And what is best may not even exist yet. This is the domain of next practices. The modern fundraiser is committed to continual fundraising improvement. In this chapter, we will show you the way.

Chapter 3 The Collaborative Factor 51

Fundraising is a team sport. But many fundraisers may not understand the full value of the fundraising ecosystem growing all around them. From supporting infrastructure to managing volunteers, opportunities to collaborate abound. You will see some real-world examples of working with others to do more than you ever thought possible.

Chapter 4 The Authentic Factor 75

Because our culture places a higher value on authenticity, fundraising organizations need to respond with transparency. Fundraisers are more effective if they embrace their true selves and use their own voice. The most effective fundraisers are those who deeply believe in the mission. Donors respond to these fundraisers because they truly believe in them.

Chapter 5 The Confident Factor 93

Why does it seem to be the same fundraisers or organizations come out on top? Success favors the bold. Good fortune favors the prepared. How might you be a more confident fundraiser who embraces the worth of the programs you advance? Our hope is that we give you the confidence to be the best fundraiser you can be.

Chapter 6 The Advocacy Factor 115

Truly great development professionals build cultures of excellence all around them—in their organization and outside its walls. Advocacy can take many forms, from encouraging a young person to enter the profession to furthering next practices in the industry. Cultivation can be more than guiding a donor on a journey. The modern fundraiser will cultivate both a culture of philanthropy and an industry of inspired quality.

Chapter 7 The Digital Factor 139

Digital is more than a giving channel. And it is no longer adequate to just have a “tech-saavy staff” for digital. Commerce and marketing have changed dramatically with the digital revolution and disruptors like the pandemic. The relationshipbased professional has much to gain by xii Contents embracing this change. From prospecting to warming, and from donor experience management to direct relationship building, the digital and social landscape presents new opportunities for the astute fundraiser.

Chapter 8 The Leadership Factor 165

No longer is it enough to be the best fundraiser in the room. Leaders of the modern fundraising enterprise have the responsibility and privilege to be so much more. Through a commitment to character development, continual learning, confirming the fundamentals, innovation, and modeling excellence, the leader of a development program can bring out the best from their team and build a successful program of significance.

Closing 189

Index 193

JOSHUA M. BIRKHOLZ is CEO of the international fundraising services firm, BWF. He is a philanthropy and fundraising innovator with nearly two decades’ experience leading nonprofits, universities, and healthcare centers around the world. He is the author of Fundraising Analytics: Using Data to Guide Strategy and Chair of the Board of the Giving USA Foundation.

AMY LAMPI is an Associate Vice President at BWF with two decades of direct fundraising experience in the arts, education, and healthcare. She is a recognized thought leader within the Tessitura Network and AFP, past president of the AFP Greater Houston Chapter, and frequently lectures on donor relations and fundraising analytics for the Center for Philanthropy & Nonprofit Leadership at Rice University.

What sets the truly sensational fundraising practitioner from other development professionals? How can your nonprofit organization go from barely hitting its fundraising targets to consistently exceeding them?

In BeneFactors: Why Some Fundraising Professionals Always Succeed, a team of veteran philanthropy strategists delivers an inspirational discussion of how the next generation of fundraising leaders can equip their teams and organizations for long-term success. The book is a practical guide for development professionals, showing readers how to use data to drive decision making and relying on innovation to bridge the coming fundraising gap.

You’ll learn how to be a bold development professional and avoid excessive risk aversion and discover the traits and qualities you need to deploy to be a successful fundraising leader. You’ll also find out how to create a culture of philanthropy at your organization, champion ethical practices, and advocate for your causes at the city, state, and federal levels.

BeneFactors explains how to navigate the digital fundraising transformation and shows you how to guide your digital donors through the giving process. You’ll learn to prospect and cultivate fundraising leads in the digital age. This book walks you through the eight factors you need to focus on to manufacture success at the team and organizational levels. From a growing emphasis on data science and predictive analytics to building confidence in your team’s ability to get results, the book touches on everything a new or existing fundraising organization needs to understand to become truly exceptional.

An essential guide to managers, board members, and other leaders of nonprofits, charities, healthcare organizations, schools, churches, and foundations, BeneFactors: Why Some Fundraising Professionals Always Succeed will also earn a place on the bookshelves of anyone interested in the contemporary fundraising process or nonprofit leadership.

PRAISE FOR BENEFACTORS

“Birkholz and Lampi offer that most valuable of gifts ??? an accessible synthesis. Drawing on actual experiences, the authors show us how to use data, deal with teams and engage leadership issues at a time when fundamental notions of fundraising are being revised.”
— Amir Pasic, Dean, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

“An encouragement for all fundraisers and managers looking to make an impact — the pages practice what they preach with ample discussion questions and thoughtful flow. This book examines the field with a wide lens, while making the experience personal with anecdotes and vulnerability from its authors.”
—Kathryn Van Sickle, Founder of The Development Debrief

“As fundraising has evolved from pastime to profession, practitioners are held to ever-higher standards. Birkholz and Lampi have done the field a service by defining characteristics of a high-performing fundraising professional. Their eight factors provide a professional development roadmap for those at any stage of their career who aim for continuous improvement.”
—Laura MacDonald, Principal and Founder of Benefactor Group, Past Chair of the Giving USA Foundation

“Josh and Amy work tirelessly to enhance the philanthropic sector by educating its members of best practices for engagement with data and donors.”
—Victor Yates, Philanthropy Officer, Phoenix Children’s Hospital

“Birkholz and Lampi distill decades of experience, observation and data into an easily digestible guide to succeeding in today’s fundraising environment. Successful fundraising takes both head and heart: BeneFactors navigates the reader from practical steps around data and digital through an exploration of harnessing your own authenticity and leadership. Josh and Amy are both devoted to learning and sharing what they learn, and in BeneFactors they bring the sector an important new perspective.”
—Andrew Recinos, President and CEO, Tessitura