Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Fundraising With Confidence, Part Three w/ Thomas Dauber
51 Plays1 month ago
In Part Three of the Brady Ware training, Thomas focuses on the structures and weekly habits that drive major gift momentum. You will learn a simple rhythm for donor engagement, a practical meeting script that centers purpose, and a framework for aligning your time, message, and goals. Whether you lead a small shop or a large team, these disciplines help create steadiness, clarity, and long-term growth.
Looking for fundraising coaching? Check out www.abundantvision.net
Looking for accounting or advisory services? Visit bradyware.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Abundant Vision Fundraising Podcast
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to the Abundant Vision Fundraising Podcast. Whether you are a seasoned professional or a first-time fundraiser, we have the advice you need to take your next step toward major gift mastery.
Host Introduction: Tom Dauber
00:00:18
Speaker
I'm your host, Tom Dauber, President of Abundant Vision Philanthropic Consulting. Last week's conversation was a blast. I'm so excited to have you with me for this next segment.
00:00:30
Speaker
Let's get back to the show.
Vision and Confidence in Fundraising
00:00:34
Speaker
As we move into the next segment, we'll take this concept further and talk about what it looks like to carry that same sense of vision and confidence when your staff or resources are limited.
00:00:48
Speaker
Whether you have an army of development officers or none at all, the CEO always has the potential to be the most effective fundraiser at any organization.
00:00:58
Speaker
And if you happen to be in the audience today and you're a chief development officer like me, don't worry, these principles apply to you as well.
Importance of Leadership in Major Gift Work
00:01:07
Speaker
The first and most important principle of major gift work is that leadership presence changes everything.
00:01:14
Speaker
Every donor you'll ever meet is looking for evidence that your organization is stable, competent, and visionary.
00:01:26
Speaker
They may read your materials or attend an event, but what truly shapes their trust is interaction with you, the person at the top. When a CEO steps into a fundraising role with confidence and humility, something shifts in the relationship.
00:01:42
Speaker
Donors are not just hearing about the mission anymore, they're seeing it embodied. The person who carries the authority to make promises and the responsibility to keep them is sitting across the table.
00:01:55
Speaker
That's when conversations move from curiosity to commitment. Leadership presence matters because major gifts are fundamentally relational.
00:02:07
Speaker
Donors just don't fund a cause, they fund capacity. They give because they believe the people leading the work can deliver on the promise.
00:02:18
Speaker
When they meet a CEO who speaks clearly about where the organization is going and how it will get there, the perceived risk of giving drops dramatically.
Donor Preferences: Stewardship over Salesmanship
00:02:28
Speaker
Here's the practical reality.
00:02:31
Speaker
Donors wanna give to people who act like stewards, not like salespeople. And a CEO, when fully engaged, take he He or she carries an aura of stewardship.
00:02:45
Speaker
They can talk about the organization's priorities, its fiscal discipline, and its future direction in a way that no one else can. That sense of ownership builds trust.
00:02:57
Speaker
Now leaders often assume that a larger staff automatically produces larger gifts. And that assumption sounds reasonable, but it misses the central truth of major gift work.
00:03:08
Speaker
Transformational giving flows from vision that is clearly articulated and consistently carried to the right people.
Consistency in Major Gift Efforts
00:03:16
Speaker
Staff capacity helps, but it doesn't replace leadership presence, disciplined habits, or the courage to ask.
00:03:23
Speaker
So if you're a lone CEO, How do you structure major gift activities when resources are thin and keep it effective when resources start to grow?
00:03:37
Speaker
Well, what you want to do is to begin with the principle you can control most directly. The leader sets the cadence. Major gift work is not an occasional sprint.
00:03:50
Speaker
It's a marathon. It's a weekly rhythm. If you lead a team or serve as a solo executive, you want to adopt a rhythm that fits inside your calendar and guard it like you guard a payroll.
00:04:03
Speaker
You do not need an intricate plan to begin. You need a simple pattern repeated without fail.
00:04:16
Speaker
A workable pattern looks like this.
00:04:20
Speaker
You want a weekly focused review. And this this fits whether you've got a fundraising team with you or not. On Monday morning, you should identify three priorities for the week. One, relationship to advance.
00:04:32
Speaker
One, new conversation to initiate. And one, stewardship action to complete. Right? Number two, you want to have two substantive kind of conversations.
00:04:45
Speaker
Schedule three meetings every week. One with a current partner, one with a prospective partner, and one with a donor to thank and share impact. If schedules don't align, use a ah phone call or a video meeting and treat it with the same level of seriousness that you would a a face-to-face meeting.
Effective Follow-Up Strategies
00:05:03
Speaker
Follow up within 48 hours. Send a concise thank you and a clear next step. Name what you've heard, restate the opportunity, and if appropriate, mention what both of you will do next.
00:05:16
Speaker
And then on Friday, it's time for accountability. Record outcomes and update your next steps. Then reflect on how you progressed. This rhythm creates more than activity. It builds momentum you can actually feel.
00:05:30
Speaker
Over a year, two or three quality conversations per week yield more than 150 touch points that matter. That number is enough to sustain a credible major gift pipeline in small and mid-size organizations.
00:05:47
Speaker
To keep the rhythm focused, work from a short living list. Identify a list of relationships you will actively cultivate and evaluate over the next quarter. You want it to be small enough to manage, but large enough to matter.
00:06:01
Speaker
Your list should include current partners who could deepen their involvement and prospective partners who share your values. Also include some ah current donors who would really appreciate an expression of gratitude from the CEO.
00:06:16
Speaker
Revise the list monthly. Move names off only when you have closed a clear loop and add new names only when you have the capacity to pursue them well.
00:06:28
Speaker
little bit more reflection time. like you to write down three names, one existing relationship, one new relationship to initiate, and a current donor to thank in the next week.
00:06:47
Speaker
Now, leaders sometimes assume they must delay donor meetings until their materials are perfect. That assumption stalls progress. progress Brochures do not close major gifts.
Engaging Donors: Conversation over Materials
00:07:02
Speaker
People and conversations about vision do. Prepared conversation beats polished collateral every time. Instead of hiring a graphic designer, go draft yourself a one-page brief to memorize until you can speak from it without notes.
00:07:20
Speaker
Here's what you want to include. One sentence that names the human outcome. Three sentences that describe the future you are building. One sentence that connects vision to a first milestone.
00:07:34
Speaker
One sentence that states the funding required for that milestone and that time horizon. And one sentence that invites partnership. That is enough to carry a serious meeting.
00:07:46
Speaker
You can refine the document after you learn what your partners care most about. Your language will improve faster in these types of conversations than it does by yourself in a room just noodling away with paper.
00:08:03
Speaker
The most practical barrier you will face isn't your capacity or your lack of marketing materials. It's avoidance. Leaders put off donor conversations for many reasons.
00:08:16
Speaker
Fear of being turned down, uncertainty about the right amount, concern about sounding presumptuous. The way through is having preparation that centers purpose and a script that carries you to a direct invitation without strain.
00:08:35
Speaker
Now, here's some simple wording that you can adapt immediately. So for your opening, you could say something like, thank you for making time. I want to share where we're headed and hear your perspective, both on our goals and how you may or may not want to be involved.
00:08:52
Speaker
Vision. We're building, insert specific future state. It will change who or what by how. Your path. Our first milestone is milestone over time frame.
00:09:07
Speaker
The budget is your amount, and we will attract and we will track two or three measures, metrics. Your invitation. We're inviting a small circle of donors to make this phase possible.
00:09:19
Speaker
Are you someone we should be thinking of for such an opportunity? This is the most important part right here, besides your vision. Silence. Pause. Take a drink of your drink.
00:09:36
Speaker
Wait on the person to respond. Answer the response appropriately. Then follow through. Thank you. I will send a brief summary of what we discussed, and I'll draft an outline of how your gift could be mobilized.
00:09:52
Speaker
This sequence keeps you from wandering and keeps the donor from guessing. It communicates respect and seriousness without pressure. Finally, to be sure to match the scale of your vision to the capacity of your audience.
00:10:07
Speaker
Leaders sometimes under ask because they fear offending the donor. The results of misalignment that confuses both parties.
Structure for Growth: Accountability and Reflection
00:10:17
Speaker
A credible larger vision framed within a clear plan often reads as more respectful than a tentative smaller one.
00:10:24
Speaker
At the very least, it's more interesting. The key is proportionality and clarity. State the scale of the work and the role you're inviting the person to play. Then carefully listen to their response.
00:10:41
Speaker
Fundraising at any scale is the same set of disciplines applied with patients. Vision that is large enough to matter, language that is specific enough to feel real, a weekly rhythm that is consistent enough to compound.
00:10:56
Speaker
When your organization grows, these disciplines expand with you. When your organization is lean, they keep you from drifting. In the end, transformational giving is not a function of how many staff members carry business cards.
00:11:11
Speaker
It's a function of how consistently the leader carries the story. When you carry it with steadiness, partners appear. When you carry it with clarity, partners commit.
00:11:23
Speaker
When you carry it with gratitude, that's when partners stay. As you continue in this pattern, you will begin to see fundraising growth. Now, this pattern will help you grow, but beyond that, if there's a single factor that separates organizations that grow steadily from those that stay stuck, it's structure.
00:11:47
Speaker
Not rigid bureaucracy, but structures of thought,
00:11:53
Speaker
habits of reflection, systems for accountability, and a rhythm of learning that keeps vision focused. In an organization that lacks a large fundraising team, coaching or even peer mentoring can be the tool that provides this type of structure.
00:12:13
Speaker
It transforms good intention into consistent execution. In major gift fundraising, leaders often don't fail for a lack of intelligent intelligence or passion.
00:12:26
Speaker
They fail because they drift.
00:12:30
Speaker
Their calendars fill with meetings, Their message fragments and their confidence erodes under the weight of daily complexity. Strategic coaching interrupts that drift.
00:12:43
Speaker
It helps leaders slow down, think clearly and realign every action with their vision.
Coaching and Mentoring in Fundraising
00:12:51
Speaker
One of the reasons I started my coaching consultancy was that I realized most fundraising professionals aren't surrounded by teams of fundraising veterans who can encourage them and play the roles of coach and mentor in a very organic fashion.
00:13:09
Speaker
I think about that first chief development officer I mentioned to you. He knew what I needed. He knew what I needed to do with Dr. Smith because he had been there. He had lived that. He had experienced that.
00:13:21
Speaker
And so he could guide me into the next step that helped me get over my fears. But in reality, most fundraising professionals aren't even managed by individuals who have experience or training in fundraising.
00:13:39
Speaker
Having worked at a large flagship university, I benefited immensely from the hundreds of development professionals who surrounded me. I was mentored by experienced fundraisers and taught industry-wide best practices in development and development operations.
00:13:55
Speaker
When I realized what a gift all that received wisdom and knowledge was, and that most fundraisers at most nonprofits don't get that opportunity, I decided to start a consultancy where I could provide my clients with individualized strategic fundraising coaching and to pass that understanding along to others. That's I'm here today.
00:14:17
Speaker
If today you find yourself at a small nonprofit in need of coaching, I'd encourage you to please contact me. I'd be glad to work with you. But if you don't have the budget for that, here's here's what I want to suggest that you do.
00:14:32
Speaker
Find some experienced fundraisers, network with them, buy them coffee, whatever it takes. Find yourself a mentor that can help you.
00:14:43
Speaker
In this final portion of today's presentation, I'm going to explain why having a coach or a mentor is important and how you can get started.
00:14:56
Speaker
The most immediate value of individualized strategic coaching is perspective. It's hard to see your own patterns while you're in them. A skilled coach functions as a mirror, reflecting what you're actually doing versus what you intend to do.
00:15:15
Speaker
Sometimes the insight is practical. Meetings that aren't advancing relationships, language that accidentally undersells impact, follow-ups that drift too long.
00:15:28
Speaker
Other times, it's psychological. Fear of rejection disguised as waiting for the right moment. This kind of perspective isn't about criticism. It's about awareness.
00:15:39
Speaker
When you see what's really happening, change stops feeling theoretical. The next benefit is alignment. Personalized coaching ensures your time, message, and goals all point in the same direction.
00:15:53
Speaker
When those three elements drift apart, confidence falters. When they converge, momentum builds naturally. A coach helps you make that convergence explicit, defining the few actions that generate the greatest impact, then reinforcing them until they become habit.
00:16:11
Speaker
Now let's connect this to confidence and results. Coaching and mentoring build confidence because they can help eliminate ambiguity. Most in ah anxiety in fundraising, it doesn't come from rejection.
00:16:25
Speaker
It comes from uncertainty, not knowing what to do next. Coaching reflects replaces that uncertainty with structure. When a leader can look at their week and say, I know which relationships matter most.
00:16:39
Speaker
I know what I'm asking for, and I know how to measure progress. The emotional load of your work drops. That steadiness translates directly into how donors experience you.
00:16:51
Speaker
They feel your composure and they trust your follow through. Another function of mentoring, peer mentoring and coaching support is cadence. Leaders often know what to do, but often not how to do it.
00:17:05
Speaker
They might meet donors sporadically. follow up inconsistently, and feel perpetually behind. Individual coaching builds realistic rhythms that fit into a leader's existing workload, not to add more pressure, but to create predictability.
00:17:22
Speaker
Such input also keeps fundraising emotionally sustainable and protects leaders from isolation. As you all know, leading a mission is lonely work.
00:17:35
Speaker
You carry responsibility for vision. staff morale, donor trust, and financial results all at once. Structured, individualized coaching can provide a place to think aloud, examine complex situation, and regain composure before fatigue sets in.
00:17:53
Speaker
Many nonprofit executives, especially those in small organizations, carry their fundra fundraising responsibilities alone. They don't have peers, as we've covered.
00:18:04
Speaker
that truly understand the pressure of leading both the mission and the money. Structured relationships create space to process that pressure without judgment.
00:18:15
Speaker
It turns what was once a private stress into a shared learning process. That stability radiates forward. Donors notice when a team leader communicates from steadiness rather than strain.
00:18:27
Speaker
And teams notice it too. A calm leader signals reliability, which in turn strengths which which in turn strengthens credibility. Good relationships like this should create accountability without judgment.
00:18:40
Speaker
True coaching, true mentoring doesn't scold. It observes, questions, and redirects. It asks, what's getting in the way? Instead of, why aren't you doing more? That shift invites honesty.
00:18:52
Speaker
Once the barrier is visible, time, uncertainty, fear, distraction can all be addressed. That kind of accountability converts insight into momentum.
00:19:04
Speaker
Reflection without follow-up fades, but follow-up without reflection burns people up.
Peer Mentoring for Better Engagement
00:19:10
Speaker
Burns people out, sorry. Coaching weaves them together in a rhythm that lasts.
00:19:17
Speaker
So here's a practical way to bring coaching structure into your own environment, even if you don't have access to a formal program or coach like me. Start a peer mentoring relationship with another leader.
00:19:30
Speaker
Once a month, meet for an hour and ask each other seven questions. One, what donor conversations have I had since our last meeting? Two, what did I learn from them?
00:19:43
Speaker
Three, where am I feeling stuck? Four, what's my next specific action? Five, are my time, messaging, and goals all pointing in the same direction?
00:19:54
Speaker
Six, what language am I using with donors? Am I communicating need or am I communicating vision? Seven, what am I intending to do versus what am I actually doing?
00:20:08
Speaker
This simple rhythm of accountability will improve your follow through more than any manual ever could. Ultimately, coaching isn't creating dependency.
00:20:19
Speaker
It's about building mastery. The goal is to help leaders build internal muscle memory for the behaviors that lead to success, to reach the point where they can self-correct in real time.
00:20:31
Speaker
That's when a leader can leave a donor meeting and instinctively think, what worked? What surprised me? What will I adjust next time? What are the right next steps for this donor?
00:20:41
Speaker
Those are the habits of confidence, self-aware leadership. Personalized coaching or peer mentoring can help you develop them faster and sustain them longer. Beyond coaching, here's a few more things that you can do for little or no cost.
00:20:58
Speaker
One, And many of you know this, but join AFP, join CASE, or AHP. Sorry, i didn't mean to leave them off the list. Other organizations are out there too that are designed to help you support, designed to support and help encourage fundraisers.
00:21:15
Speaker
Find some great fundraising podcasts to listen to, like the Abundant Vision Fundraising Podcast. Read some good books on fundraising by experienced fundraisers. Some of my favorite are Gerald Pannis, David Lively, or if you have a spiritual bent, Henry Nowen.
00:21:31
Speaker
Get into community with other fundraisers. Befriend colleagues. Find a mentor. So let's end where we began.
The Power of a Clear Vision in Fundraising
00:21:41
Speaker
Vision.
00:21:43
Speaker
As fundraisers, We need to understand
00:21:50
Speaker
how our personal vision for fundraising, or as fundraisers, we need to understand how our personal vision for what fundraising is, is shaped by our personal history.
00:22:03
Speaker
We can reshape those broken visions influenced by scarcity mentality. or reinforce healthy understandings of money by rooting ourselves mentally in the mission of our organization and embracing an abundance mentality.
00:22:20
Speaker
When our vision is squarely focused on our mission, we're free to develop a transformational vision that attracts transformational generosity.
00:22:32
Speaker
CEOs that develop a clear, inspiring vision for their organization will regularly share that vision with donors will increase giving if they ask directly.
00:22:47
Speaker
Coaching and peer interaction can help you develop the discipline and messaging that are needed for persistent growth. Together, they create the crip conditions for major gift breakthroughs, repeatable, lasting success built on clarity and trust.
00:23:03
Speaker
So let's just take a reflection moment here. and ask ourselves, what are two steps you'll take this month to fund fundraise with greater confidence? Maybe it's spend some time reflecting.
00:23:17
Speaker
Heck, maybe you need some counseling. Lord knows I did. Maybe. Maybe you'll make a list of of potential peers that that you can build ah a mentoring group with.
00:23:33
Speaker
Maybe you'll hire a coach. Whatever it is, just take a couple minutes now.
Transforming Perceptions through Structured Gratitude
00:23:42
Speaker
So as you leave today, remember this. Major gift fundraising isn't about pressure. It's about presence. It's about showing up with a vision, a structure, a gratitude, and a plan day after day, conversation after conversation.
00:24:01
Speaker
These steady changes will change the way people see your organization. And in time, change what they believe is possible.
00:24:13
Speaker
That's all the time we have today, but be sure to tune in next week to hear the next part of this exciting conversation. Now, if you've enjoyed this podcast, please be sure to subscribe and give us a five-star rating on your podcast provider. I'm your host, Tom Daubert.
00:24:28
Speaker
Thank you for joining me as we journey together towards major gift mastery on the Abundant Vision Fundraising Podcast.