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SynerVision Leadership.org I 31
Your fundraising may be tied more
closely to your organizational
values than you realize. Your donors
don’t learn your values from your
website or your mailings; instead, they
learn your values from your actions.
All organizations, but especially nonprofits,
must own and demonstrate certain universal
values. These fundamental values revolve
around honesty. In order to attract their funds,
donors must believe that you can and will do
with their money what you tell them you will.
Increasingly, donors expect accountability
and transparency to complement honesty.
In other words, it is no longer enough to
do what you say you’ll do, but you are now
expected to document and demonstrate that
you’ve done what you said you would.
The growing trend toward crowdfunding
demonstrates this principle. Crowdfunding
campaigns are generally smaller, project-
focused efforts, sometimes led by individuals
rather than organizations. Donors are
attracted to the opportunity to give to a
specific project with a finite scope, led by an
individual they can identify and likely know.
Such projects are designed with transparency
as a principle from the outset. The project
backers are typically kept informed of the
project’s status all through the fundraising
phase and then throughout the execution of
the project, often receiving updates including
photos and videos via email and social media.
Having adopted these fundamental values
of honesty, transparency and accountability,
you must then demonstrate values consistent
with your cause or mission. For religious
organizations, it is important to put faith first,
consistent with your doctrine so that donors
recognize the integrity of your mission and
can, in turn, have faith in you and your
organization.
An organization focused on building schools
and educating children must be imbued with
a focus on learning, education and children’s
rights. An organization that advocates for
democracy around the world would need
to demonstrate internal values in favor of
free speech and democratic organizational
processes, internally and externally, so that
donors see and experience your commitment
to democracy.
One of the most common inconsistencies
donors see and are turned off by are
organizations that advocate for diversity
and decry hate speech, that then vilify those
who may have reasonable disagreements
with them, sometimes using the same sort
of language they have criticized in others
to describe those who disagree with their
principles. Donors recognize that hypocrisy
and clutch their wallets. If you preach
tolerance, you must tolerate as well as you
expect to be tolerated.
Jimmy Carter has been a role model for
communicating the values of Habitat for
Humanity for decades, showing up hammer-
in-hand to work side-by-side with other
volunteers to help build homes, not just
making celebrity appearances and allowing
his likeness to be used for fundraising. His
How Values Relate to Your Fundraising
showing up demonstrates his passion
for actually housing families in need in
ways that words will never be able to.
Beware that irrelevant values may
create noise or problems in fundraising.
No matter how strongly you feel about
values that are irrelevant to your cause or
mission, there is no need for those to be part
of the institutional value set. For instance,
your personal values around family planning
are likely deeply held, but unless you work
for an organization doing adoptions or
family planning, building this value into your
organization may simply create distractions.
Your donors will appreciate your values
by your actions. You’ll communicate your
transparency by providing clear reporting
on your use of their donations. You’ll
demonstrate your commitment to your cause
and values over time by driving consistent
impact and reporting consistently about it.
By making your mission more important
than asking for money, you’ll get more.
Devin Thorpe focuses on helping those doing good in
the world. Author, advisor, Forbes contributor, keynote
speaker, emcee, and trainer. Devin’s latest book is
Crowdfunding for Social Good, Financing
Your Mark on the World.
Devin Thorpe
Funds Attraction