I thought transitioning from an investment banking career to a social entrepreneur was tough enough. But the stakes changed drastically when I decided to join the impact world after running a social enterprise for more than a decade. I was excited to be part of an inspiring mission, and took up the challenge to lead the fundraising efforts for one of the largest collective philanthropic efforts in the country.

But I must admit, fundraising for a nonprofit has been the toughest job I have ever done. As a banker, I would ask clients to part with their money with the promise of great returns. But in the nonprofit world, it can be intimidating to ask people to part with their hard-earned cash. Building and maintaining relationships during a pandemic can be challenging, but with the right strategies, we can create long-lasting bonds.

1. Research, Research, and then… do more Research.

Recently, I gifted one of my donors a painting by an acclaimed folk artist. Knowing he had a keen interest in the History of Art, I bought the painting from a NGO that was supporting this particular diminishing folk tradition. When I shared the NGO’s story with him, he immediately wanted to support their work as well. Doing research and understanding your donors is the first step to build a meaningful relationship. Fortunately, today we have more access to information about our donors than ever.

You need to be able to answer these questions if you want to get to a donor’s heart:

• What kinds of causes or passions do they care about?
• Do they have a history of giving? What other causes have they given to before?
• What are their objections, fears, and concerns about giving?

In other words, understand your donor so well, it’s like you have read their mind.

2. Keep the Ask Simple.

As a rookie banking professional, one of the best pieces of advice I’ve been given by one of my mentors was: Keep the ask simple. Always link what you want to ask for with a specific goal that can be quantified and shared. And this is not just important for fundraising; it’s about setting specific goals for your organization. And the only way to do it well is practicing your ask with these simple outcomes/goals in mind. For example, building a ‘Gift Tree’, showing how their gift could make an impact is a very effective method. 

3. Build Strong Relationships. Listen and Respond.

My journey as a fundraising professional started early last year. Due to the COVID crisis I could not have any in-person meetings. Suddenly the world of fundraising, which thrived on face-to-face meetings, moved into a virtual space. At this juncture, decades of experience of building strong relationships came to my rescue. I studied what my donors are interested in, and communicated with them regularly. I sent them articles according to their interests and wrote personal notes. As an organization, we would engage them in various activities as advisors, mentors, and advocates.
One of the personal learnings in this exercise has been to listen more. Listening carefully can be a very underrated part of communication skills, especially when it comes to responding to the nuances of donor needs. 

4. Perseverance is Key.

Every fundraising professional has been rejected by donors. I was dejected after hearing a “No” from a CSR Board after months of hard work. But being able to put it aside and not become disillusioned or demotivated was the only way I could move forward. Major gifts require a lot of hard work, tenacity, and determination to pull off. Since it often requires an organization to build a long-term relationships, perseverance is a crucial quality for a fundraising professional.

5. Continue to Show Gratitude.

At our organization, we don’t just thank donors at the time of giving. We find opportunities to show our continuing gratitude. We celebrate their “donorversary” by sending personalized thank you notes. We thank them with a story of how exactly their gift has created an impact, leaving a lasting impression and an emotional connect. One of our donors even shared such a story with his friends, who in turn were motivated to get involved with the cause.

6. Create a Process-Driven Approach.

Having a strategic process goes a long way. It is essential to capture all the information and data in one place, like in an Excel spreadsheet, in CRMs, etc. This has helped us gain insights on prospective donors, communications, and donor engagement strategy. With additional contributions and referrals from donors, this approach has multiplied our returns. On top of it all, a process-driven structure helps to leverage the diverse skillset of a team, maximizing performance.

7. Make it a Collective Effort.

In a nonprofit world, fundraising is a collective effort. Everyone who is connected to the cause, including founders, advisors, and extended team members, can majorly contribute to the fundraising effort. They open doors for you, extend their support, and champion the cause. Aligning their strengths, networks, and passion to the cause is the key to build a strong group of fundraising champions.

8. Commit to the Cause.

After a fundraising pitch, the donor committed his contribution saying, “I can see your passion, and that’s why I feel energized to contribute to the cause.” This was one of the biggest highs for us in the team. When a fundraiser is truly passionate about the organization, it shines through in their work. We don’t convince donors. We help them realize that they already care, and then connect their passion to the cause. Once donors believe that your cause truly matters, giving almost becomes an afterthought. Of course they’ll give!

9. Invest in Yourself.

Even though I had the experience of fundraising in my earlier corporate avatar, the world of the nonprofit was very different. I decided to invest in my learning and signed up for the ILSS Fundraising Program – one of the best decisions I made. It not only helped me to understand the nuances of philanthropic fundraising, but also build my network with some amazing nonprofit leaders who are now close friends and mentors.

Fundraising is a roller coaster ride with its ups and downs (sometimes the downs are more than the ups)! But the everlasting impact it can have on your cause makes it all worthwhile.

The post The Rollercoaster Ride: Fundraising in the Impact World appeared first on India Leaders for Social Sector.

As CEO of Apni Shala Foundation, a Mumbai-based nonprofit working to implement programmes for emotional wellbeing in schools, Rohit Kumar was one of several organization founder-leaders to invest in building his fundraising skills through the ILSS Fundraising Program. Some months into the Program, through conversations with peers and pitching the Apni Shala cause to donors, Rohit realized that there was fundamental personal work to be done before these lessons could be truly applied for his organization.

“It is a relatively recent phenomenon that nonprofit leaders are coming from middle and working-class backgrounds,” says Rohit. “While there have been many social workers and activists from very diverse, at times deeply economically challenged backgrounds, the social sector as we know it was mostly started by upper-class families’ efforts to ‘do good’ with their money.”

“There aren’t yet structures in place to address these gaps within the sector itself, and we don’t know how to have those conversations. So, people working in the development sphere usually have to approach asking for funds whilst having a complicated, sometimes painful, relationship with money themselves.”

Rohit reflects on his upbringing in a middle-class North Indian family, which informed some of his own beliefs about money. “Growing up, having money was like having respect. It should be earned, not given to you, let alone asked for. If you don’t have money and have to ask for it, it is considered a personal failure, and becomes a site of trauma. After years working in the social sector, I realized that asking for money, even though I knew I had to do it for my organization, still carried with it the shame, guilt, and other painful associations ingrained into me from my early years.”

Class politics are also, unfortunately, fully at play in the everyday efforts of running a nonprofit and raising funds. Rohit remembers an experience he had meeting a potential donor in Mumbai. After a full day of fieldwork, Rohit made his way to the appointment at the donor’s plush apartment building, and was stopped at the gate. “The security guard thought I was building staff, telling me to use the back service entrance,” Rohit recalls. “After I told him I was a guest of one of the residents, a hesitant phone call was made, and I was let through.”

More than anything, this event highlighted the vast class difference between Rohit and the donor, cementing the social messaging that he was undignified in asking for money, and should be ashamed. “I don’t really care about the misunderstanding… you can think of me however you want. But, I did come up to the donor’s flat with a distinct feeling that I do not belong here.”

“I was in a different bracket of human, based on my class perception. How could I possibly apply concepts of ‘Making a Good Pitch’ and ‘Creating a Strong Organization Narrative’, let alone even being personable, when I am struggling to gather my humanity?”

Rohit knew he was not the only one with these experiences – with deep trauma around money to be unpacked. With this in mind, Rohit organized a session with his organization’s leadership team, where the agenda was just that – talking about how we feel about money. “We started with exploring how our body responds to money. Many of us felt the weight of shame in our stomach, or aching hurt in our chest…” The session led to everyone articulating their insecurities around money, sharing their hurt around it based on their life and experiences.

“It became a space of healing, where we for once could talk freely about this realm of life that is often given very little attention. We opened ourselves, and cried, and held each other in our vulnerability. We also found each other, felt together, and laughed. It helped to be able to name and place our trauma, and have compassion for conflicting experiences, even within the room.”

“Most importantly, it was critical to recognise how social and economic systems induce shame and guilt that we do not have to live with.”

The Apni Shala leadership team decided that the outcomes of creating this space should be first, compassion – for themselves and each other, as well as figures who may have hurt them in the past. Rohit explains that, “even the privileged donor with biases, discriminating against people who do not fit their model of appropriately poor, or conveniently disadvantaged, have their own self-work to do. Their prejudice is a reflection of an inability to fully engage with the world, that must be actively undone. When we understand that, we open up space for dialogue. Narrative Practices, one of the philosophies that Apni Shala’s work is informed by, invites us to consider that people are not the problem, the problem is the problem. No matter where you are in the class ladder, your outlook is informed by the same hierarchical system.”

That’s where the healing begins. “In development work, when we start leaning on and supporting each other, we create opportunities for everyone to heal from systemic pain, creating new possibilities of relating to one another.”

“Those who have privilege also have the responsibility to do this self-work. Hating or dismissing each other is not going to help us in our healing. Luckily, in my work of fundraising in the last few years, I have also met some really thoughtful and self-reflective donors who are engaging with us in this reflective, co-healing journey.”

The team also realized that understanding this hurt and shame affected the way they related to the beneficiaries of their social work. “We asked ourselves how class and money affected the way we relate to our professional roles, and how we relate to the children whose lives we are a part of. Naming our pain, and therefore deeply trusting ourselves as educators, gave us a clearer picture of our impact and work on the ground. As a result, we could now really envision donors as our partners and supporters, which was just an abstract concept before.” Soon after their session, the Apni Shala Foundation held a large event where they invited existing and potential donors, showcasing their vital work with confidence and assurance like never before.

An oft-repeated mantra in the ILSS Fundraising Program reminds fundraisers that, “If you don’t ask, the answer is no.” While undeniable, it is essential we acknowledge that the notion of asking for money itself is incredibly loaded, and potentially fraught. Money, after all, cannot be separated from the context of India’s deep class divides, which inevitably run through the very sector that is working tirelessly to undo them. At the core of these fissures are the very real, lived and felt experiences of the people that make up the social sector – trauma to be healed, and solidarity to be celebrated. Rohit and the Apni Shala team understood that we cannot leave behind the inherent humanness of development work, in all its complexities, as we strive and sweat toward a harmonious world. The journey begins with self-compassion.

The post Healing Our Relationship with Money: Unpacking Funding Systems appeared first on India Leaders for Social Sector.

The meeting was set up by one of my mentors and well-wishers. He said the philanthropist was open to hearing about the work I do. My thoughts were running at a dizzying speed, with a healthy dose of both nervousness and excitement, as though meeting someone for a blind date.

There I was, in the lobby of his swank office.  I had to be on my best behaviour to convince and cajole (or at the very worst scare?) a potential funder into falling madly in love with my cause. He’d immediately write me a large cheque, and then get on the phone to invite all his rich friends to also support the stellar work we were doing. 

Of course, it never goes like that. This was my first ever fundraising meeting. I had never met someone before with the sole purpose of asking for money, and especially not for my own organization. It was awkward and stilted, and I was more nervous than I would have imagined. Simply put, I just wasn’t sure how this conversation was supposed to go. After one is done extolling the virtues of the work, what does one do next?

Money, of course, was the proverbial elephant in the room. Should I be straight up and just ask for funding? If I don’t mention it, surely the philanthropist will wonder why we had the meeting in the first place. He may even think me a fool for not making the move! But if I ask, what should the number be? Asking too little could seem like an insult to him and his time. And asking too much could scare him away or sound entitled. Should I be asking at all in the first meeting?

My questions then evolved into the existential. What is it about asking for money that reduces a normally ebulliently confident go-getter like myself into a dithering preteen? Had I taken the time to articulate what I really wanted from this fateful first date? Isn’t fundraising supposed to be about building a relationship first? And how long does it even take to build purposeful partnerships? What would be most critical to my organization’s success at this stage- did I need his trust and support more, or was his money more essential?

I came away from that meeting with no money, but a kind offer to consider my cause the following year. To be honest, though, it may be a while before I feel prepared to go back to him, mostly because the memory of my stuttering self is so humiliating that I can’t bear to meet again the only other person who witnessed it. 

My biggest learning a year and a half later?

Fundraising begins in your head. It isn’t simply about the great work you are doing, but also your ability to put yourself out there, take rejection on your chin, and learn over time to ‘win friends and influence people’. Dale Carnegie was clearly on to something when he wrote that book. It is equally about your ability to do the research, figure out where you stand, how you can pitch for the context, and – perhaps most of all – build the right partnerships with the right funders who will walk the path with you and champion your work beyond just dipping into their wallets.

Looking back, I realise that fundraising – and the inevitable donor relationship- is a dance that one has to choreograph. Two steps forward, three steps back, cha cha cha. It may take a while to find a rhythm and to fall into step together, but once you’ve synchronised your intent and resources towards a common vision, it can be magic all the way.

The post Of Blind Dates, Fundraising, and Cha-Cha-Cha appeared first on India Leaders for Social Sector.

Pratyush Rawal & Radha Arakkal

It will not be incorrect to claim that fundraising ranks amongst the top three challenges faced by most non-profit leaders.

Researching prospective donors, crafting a pitch deck, securing the first meeting, making the actual ask, writing grant proposals, reviewing budgets, reporting impact to donors, and/or organizing a crowdfunding campaign have surely given sleepless nights to all fundraisers. No doubt fundraising is considered ‘the other F-word’ for non-profit organizations.

At India Leaders for Social Sector (ILSS), we conducted a detailed study on the development sector fundraising landscape, the main challenges that organizations and social sector leaders face while raising money, and the best practices that some of the most successful fundraising organizations follow.  We interviewed over 70 non-profit leaders, donors, experts, and intermediaries and had over 50 informal conversations for this study.

In this first article of a two-part series, we enumerate the following key challenges faced by non-profits while fundraising.

• Communication Challenges are the primary struggle for many social purpose organizations. For example, many small and medium organizations addressed the difficulty in making strategic pitch decks, with a strong problem statement and solution. While most organizations facilitate transformative projects with their communities, effective storytelling as a skill is difficult to hone. Organizations also often lack the ability to write complex grant proposals. Moreover, we found organizations are generally unable or unwilling to spend on marketing and communications, probably because the leadership and/or the donors do not understand the benefits of brand-building as a part of org strategy. This prevents these organizations from establishing themselves as strong and trustworthy brands. Very few organizations make full use of technology, including social media, for brand-building and retail fundraising.
• Networking happens to be another huge challenge, especially for small organizations. In the absence of an evolved and mature non-profit fundraising environment in the country, fundraising on many occasions is driven by personal connections and networks. Smaller organizations often have very limited access to these networks, an advantage that large organizations enjoy.
• Recruiting, training, and retaining fundraising talent is a concern across the social impact sector in the country. While everyone in the sector understands the criticality of the fundraising, not many professionals are keen to join the fundraising vertical of the organization. There is also a dearth of funds channeled toward training and capacity building. 
• Many organizations find it difficult to maintain strong relationships with donors. Social development is a slow and gradual process, and fundraisers struggle to show results on a quarterly basis, which many donors ask for. Organizations also mention how the power dynamics with the donor makes fundraising a tough task.
• The difficult regulatory framework, especially with respect to foreign funds, is an important pain-point for non-profit fundraisers. Navigating the plethora of complex laws, regulations, and reporting mechanisms that govern the Indian non-profit space, reduces bandwidth allocated to raising money.
• Apart from a few large non-profits, most organizations have not been able to harness the power of Retail Fundraising, which is often seen as a cost and not as an investment. It is intriguing that while 61% of the social sector funds came from everyday giving in the US last year, this share was just 6% in India (Sattva Everyday Giving report, 2019).
• Finally, the reluctance in asking and fear of rejection are among the biggest behavioural challenges for fundraisers. In the ILSS Fundraising Program, we incessantly reiterate our core mantra: “If you don’t ask, the answer is no”.

This is not to say that fundraising is a sad, hopeless field. In our research we came across several organizations – both small and large – that ace fundraising, and are the top choices for donors, institutional and individual alike. These organizations strongly believe that social change is impossible without successful fundraising.

We discuss these best practices in the second article of this two part series.

The post Fundraising in the Social Sector: Common Challenges appeared first on India Leaders for Social Sector.

Having turned seventy recently, I often reflect on the seven decades of my life and realise how lucky I have been. Being born into an upper-middle class family, there was enough attention given to my education and nurturing my potential – an investment that has paid me dividends all through my life. This realisation has become even more acute in the COVID19 era where the survival of much of humanity seems to be at stake with hundreds of millions of human beings not knowing where their next meal will come from or how their children will survive.

It is hard not to see the disproportionate impact of the crisis on different sections of the population.  It is equally hard not to recognise how lucky several of us are and how kind the universe has been to us.   Acknowledging that we have received more than a fair deal is the first step towards recognising our responsibility and ability to pay it forward.

To give — and to give

The corollary to acknowledging your good fortune or privilege is to identify where and how you can put your abilities or your resources to the best use. I have found that encouraging, mentoring and guiding young people gives me immense pleasure. My idle time has become my biggest asset because over the years, word spread that I have time, the ability to ask questions, suggest solutions and perhaps make connections that would be useful to young people seeking help either with their enterprise, job, profession or ideas.

I spend almost all of my mornings on calls with youngsters or meeting them in person to discuss their ideas in diverse spaces such as education, livelihoods, health, kindness, governance, artificial intelligence, blockchain and so on.

We are all inherently good and want to help others. Some of us may lack discipline and consistency in our giving, or we may simply not be aware of the giving landscape in general. We, therefore need to start off with being more self-reflective and figuring out for ourselves what giving means to us as individuals and how we can give back. How much we give in terms of time or resources really depends on each of us as individuals and will differ from person to person.  

Every individual counts

One of the reasons we often hesitate to give is because we underestimate the difference we can make as individuals. The COVID-19 crisis has however helped surface gaps within our society and has provided a big motivator for people to contribute to various causes.

The power of individual giving has become quite clear over the past few months. People have become increasingly aware of the impact they can create on others, directly or by supporting the efforts of social organisations. There is a need to sustain this momentum. Especially now, with CSR and foreign funding shrinking and becoming unreliable. This can only happen when we stay engaged with issues of social change and continue to acknowledge our role in the process of change. The potential is huge, make no mistake. If 25 percent (roughly about 2 billion people) of the global population is living below the poverty line, the top 2 billion should be working to negate that, to make sure what they received is equalising and harmonising. It is our duty.

Vulnerability as a propeller for giving

We are experiencing unprecedented vulnerability and uncertainty today. Being in this situation has helped us reflect on the life we have had so far and also think about what went wrong. This vulnerability is making people understand the co-dependency that exists in society and the need to stand together, reinforcing the need to give. Having seen and experienced these truths, we have an opportunity now to make sure we never forget either our own vulnerability or our interconnectedness with others.

This Daan Utsav is as good a time as any to begin your giving journey. Start with your community, make a donation, use your skills, express gratitude, look for ways to support vulnerable communities. At the end of the day, there is nothing more satisfying than knowing that you are genuinely able to contribute towards positive change, be it for a family, a community or society at large.  The sense of joy and fulfilment that comes with giving is unlike anything that has ever been experienced.

The post We have a duty to give back appeared first on India Leaders for Social Sector.

A few weeks ago, I had a call with the head of fundraising of an emerging non-profit organisation aiming to build significant scale. The person was bouncing ideas and seeking advice on sizing, strategizing and addressing the Indian philanthropic market. After the interaction, something struck me as odd and fundamentally amiss. It was the absence of confidence and an overwhelming presence of an apologetic demeanour towards raising funds.

Why confidence is key

Fundraisers are the first port-of-call and the organisation’s public face for donors. If you, as the fundraising person, are tentative and lacking in confidence, the donor could develop doubts on two counts: One, do you lack conviction or belief in your organisation? Two, is your non-profit capable of absorbing the contribution and using it effectively? And the donor will likely hit pause, reconsider, or worse still, terminate the contribution.

Yes, non-profits need the money. And yes, there is almost nothing ‘in return’ for the giver barring the joy of changing lives. And sometimes not even that when the donor is giving to fund structural overhead investments and no money directly flows to a cause or a community. Which is why it is critical that you exude confidence and conviction when you speak about your organisation and the reason you need funds. 

Fundraising – non-profit or otherwise – is a sales process. It is elevated salesmanship because one is selling, even if the ‘product’ is intangible. And a diffident salesperson will regress the organisation. Fundraising professionals need to possess and display confidence, not in a muscular kind of way, but in a manner that exudes quiet self-belief and communicates reassurance to donors and stakeholders. 

Gandhi unapologetically used modern sales methods like hawking autographed photographs of Nehru, Patel and Azad for a price. And Mother Teresa never suffered any blushes asking for funds in the name of the Lord.

Always remember that a wonderful idea and keen strategy can be waylaid by the absence of high-quality fundraising. Fundraising pulses the arterial blood flow of your organisation, its commitment and aspiration. The success of your organisation depends on how well – and how confidently – you do your job.

What makes a confident fundraiser?

Fundraising with confidence requires, in addition to a deep conviction in the work your organisation does, a significant amount of discipline and conscious, consistent effort.

1. Engage at a principal-to-principal level: Donors prefer to engage with principals while writing a cheque, especially, if it’s a large one. Given that context, it is essential for fundraisers to conduct themselves as principals and be perceived by the donor as the person responsible for powering the organisation. Consequently, the chances of closing the deal increase manifold. It is the responsibility of non-profit leaders to equip and position their fundraisers as principals. 
2. Narrate a story: Never adopt an in-your-face selling style. And don’t be boring. A good pitch is 75 percent emotion. Narrate a story and carry your listener on a journey. Use the story to anchor your pitch and let the listener discover a hook to your organisation and its needs.
3. Practice. Practice. Practice: Selling is a performance. Be honest. Be earnest. But hone your craft and sharpen your pitch knives every single day. Cultivate three pitches:
   • An elevator pitch that you can zing out in a minute
   • A 10-minute version for paucity of time
   • A 20-minute expansive edition.
4. Vary your pitch: If selling is a performance, remember that you are performing for a new audience every meeting. Sell the same story through a different route. Make uncertainty your best friend. The more you break the linearity of the pitch, the more comfortable you will get with ambiguities.
5. Take risks: Asking big helps and confidence is your biggest ally. Here is a story. Six years ago, when Ashoka University was still young and growing, I was in a meeting with one of India’s most celebrated business leaders. After a thoughtful 45-minute pitch and conversation, he asked, ‘What is the amount you have in mind for me?’ I replied, ‘We will be grateful if you could support Ashoka with Rs 50 crore.’ Now, a Rs 50-crore ask is sizeable even by today’s benchmarks but back then it could have been construed as overly ambitious. But was it? The gentleman thought for a moment and replied, ‘What if I propose Rs 200 crore instead?’
6. Confidence in vulnerability: Tell your donors you need the money. And that without their support, your organisation is unlikely to progress or deliver impact. Or worse still, even survive. I have said these in meetings: ‘We need your money, without which we will not be able to educate this student’ OR ‘We have just x number of days’ expenditure as cash in the bank, need your help to overcome the situation’.
   Let the donor know unambiguously that their contribution is central to the success of the organisation. Are you showing yourself and the organisation in vulnerable light? Yes. Will it hurt your prospects? No, because the honesty and integrity of purpose will shine through.
7. Demonstrate impact: A scholarship beneficiary from a small town accompanied me for a fundraising meeting. She spoke simply about her experiences at Ashoka and how that education altered her life. This lived experience is far more effective than any well-meaning pitch. This will elevate the confidence of the donor, and in turn, yours too.

In conclusion, train well and learn to sport a confidence cloak. Gawky everyday Clark Kent or Lois Lane can morph into fundraising Superman or Superwoman. The ask could be big or small but fundraising principles remain the same. It takes similar effort and diligence whether raising Rs. 500,000 for a scholarship or Rs 5 crore for building institutional infrastructure.

Lastly, never be apologetic. Non-profit work is uplifting and in the service of society and country. Let that selflessness inspire the giver into taking positive action. As Henry Rosso said, ‘Fundraisers should use pride, not apology when asking for a gift for a charity that is doing good work.’ 

Venkat Eshwara is one of the speakers and Mentors at the ILSS Fundraising Program, designed specifically to equip social sector leaders with the skills and knowledge needed to raise funds with confidence.  Applications for the Program are now open.

The post Fundraiser, thy name is confidence appeared first on India Leaders for Social Sector.