saying no to philanthropy?
October 14, 2016 12:59 PM Subscribe
I had a great-paying job in fundraising but the job was insanely emotionally over the top and I found myself running away after 18 months and now work in the private sector as a business development director. I donate money to charity and it has created a major dilemma that I can't figure out how to solve. Can you give me some advice?
I overcame my need to please and begging for attention personality after a lot of therapy and it has paid off in that I now have an amazing partner and two kids. At work, I went from mainly administrative and clerical roles with big-sounding titles to now managing six people and effectively executing multiple channel business plans.
I see that my foray into charity fundraising was not a mistake, but the process for learning charity fundraising is fundamentally flawed in that these departments are not flat or fast-moving.
When I finally got into management, I convinced my company to give me room to develop our corporate social responsibility. I created a letter-request system on first entry, with up to £500 available for charities with five miles of the office. On second entry, the group can apply for more money on condition they take part in a community and corporate fundraising workshop lasting two days.
In 16 months, the company has donated to several efforts independently - one of donations to a school, for example - but have not had a single direct solicitation for the CSR programme which offers more than is usually donated without being asked.
In my personal life I donate about £2,000 per year to a variety of causes usually anonymously but changed my tack when an organisation I supported lost a major grant because it didn't collect enough signatures for a petition.
The charity then decided, out of my wishes, to identify me publicly to a group of charities who I don't want to work with but who now won't stop calling me at work but also will not take part in my company's CSR initiative either for reasons that are explained to me as "we know what we are doing". I feel like what they are doing is trying to stop me from ever wanting to donate money again.
The dilemma gets more challenging because I am on the shortlist for two senior management jobs at companies in the region but not in town. I have explained the failure of my own CSR initiative as indicative of the challenge all non profits face in boiling down their request to a 500 word letter. But I am sensing my own failure to actually utilise my non profit development experience in ways that are actually useful for what they can be in the hands of the right organisation.
Last week I attended a Soup meeting, where people make presentations for the chance to win cash for community projects and I was taken by an adult and youth theatre program with a great traveling production idea. I immediately offered to help them recruit schools or just do any other fundraising they needed as they said in the presentation that fundraising skills were the hardest thing for them to find. A follow up call and I learned they don't accept fundraising volunteers.
Today, I managed to reach a fundraising director who I admire and asked for some general advice. We discussed my experience working with charities and she suggested that the only way I was going to have any success was to get a job in the sector because charities don't want volunteers to do a lot of work their staff can do, and that charities would worry I would replicate their ideas and move on.
I am feeling dejected that as a donor I have been grassed and as a volunteer no one wants me. Our CSR program is a failure. I would like to figure out a worthwhile way to say ' here's how I am going to do it from now" that I can distribute to solicitors going forward. What I really need are some real, truly different steps from what I have tried before that are worth keeping to in order to ensure charities take advantage of the supports I offer.
I am also wondering, am I not even giving enough money away to do it myself? Would it be better to give the money to a donor-advised fund and then direct solicitors there or would this create the same set of conditions as the CSR idea?
I overcame my need to please and begging for attention personality after a lot of therapy and it has paid off in that I now have an amazing partner and two kids. At work, I went from mainly administrative and clerical roles with big-sounding titles to now managing six people and effectively executing multiple channel business plans.
I see that my foray into charity fundraising was not a mistake, but the process for learning charity fundraising is fundamentally flawed in that these departments are not flat or fast-moving.
When I finally got into management, I convinced my company to give me room to develop our corporate social responsibility. I created a letter-request system on first entry, with up to £500 available for charities with five miles of the office. On second entry, the group can apply for more money on condition they take part in a community and corporate fundraising workshop lasting two days.
In 16 months, the company has donated to several efforts independently - one of donations to a school, for example - but have not had a single direct solicitation for the CSR programme which offers more than is usually donated without being asked.
In my personal life I donate about £2,000 per year to a variety of causes usually anonymously but changed my tack when an organisation I supported lost a major grant because it didn't collect enough signatures for a petition.
The charity then decided, out of my wishes, to identify me publicly to a group of charities who I don't want to work with but who now won't stop calling me at work but also will not take part in my company's CSR initiative either for reasons that are explained to me as "we know what we are doing". I feel like what they are doing is trying to stop me from ever wanting to donate money again.
The dilemma gets more challenging because I am on the shortlist for two senior management jobs at companies in the region but not in town. I have explained the failure of my own CSR initiative as indicative of the challenge all non profits face in boiling down their request to a 500 word letter. But I am sensing my own failure to actually utilise my non profit development experience in ways that are actually useful for what they can be in the hands of the right organisation.
Last week I attended a Soup meeting, where people make presentations for the chance to win cash for community projects and I was taken by an adult and youth theatre program with a great traveling production idea. I immediately offered to help them recruit schools or just do any other fundraising they needed as they said in the presentation that fundraising skills were the hardest thing for them to find. A follow up call and I learned they don't accept fundraising volunteers.
Today, I managed to reach a fundraising director who I admire and asked for some general advice. We discussed my experience working with charities and she suggested that the only way I was going to have any success was to get a job in the sector because charities don't want volunteers to do a lot of work their staff can do, and that charities would worry I would replicate their ideas and move on.
I am feeling dejected that as a donor I have been grassed and as a volunteer no one wants me. Our CSR program is a failure. I would like to figure out a worthwhile way to say ' here's how I am going to do it from now" that I can distribute to solicitors going forward. What I really need are some real, truly different steps from what I have tried before that are worth keeping to in order to ensure charities take advantage of the supports I offer.
I am also wondering, am I not even giving enough money away to do it myself? Would it be better to give the money to a donor-advised fund and then direct solicitors there or would this create the same set of conditions as the CSR idea?
To clarify: I don't mean that you should give them money for answering your questions; just a little expertise, or just ask your questions knowing, in your own mind, that you could potentially help them.
posted by amtho at 2:01 PM on October 14, 2016
posted by amtho at 2:01 PM on October 14, 2016
This question is a little confused but I think that is because you yourself are confusing a couple of things. There is the natural human impulse to support charities and help out in good causes, and then I think you have tangled up in that stuff about wanting to do fundraising because that's what you like to do, and also stuff where you think other people are Doing It Wrong and you want to teach them the right way.
So, like, I may be misunderstanding but from here it looks like your CSR program at work is a way to bribe charities to come to a lecture by you on the right way to do fundraising. But that seems like it's not going to be effective for two reasons: people who can find and apply for the CSR program on their own already demonstrate they know the basics of fundraising so may not feel like they need the lecture, and people who do want the lecture may not feel like you or your company is the place to get it - you may have just left it out, but I don't get the impression that community and corporate fundraising is central to your company's mission, or that you're a big-name expert in the fundraising field.
I think it's also maybe indicative that you're too tightly focused here that you don't seem to be listening to people - it sounds like a couple charities told you directly that the CSR program wasn't what they wanted, and your takeaway from that was the CSR program wasn't taking off because people were having trouble applying to it. I think maybe the biggest lesson to learn in the non-profit sector or business is you need to listen to your target audience - you have something you want from them (for them to listen to you and use your skillset), and you need to listen to what they want and need first to figure out how to get what you want.
Given all that, I would suggest:
- Keep your personal giving separate from everything else. If you want to support a charity, write them a check. If they abuse their donor list or harass you on the phone, tell them you're cutting them out. Don't try to cross-sell them to your other projects, just be a donor and write a check or don't.
- Talking to the one fundraising person was great - see if you can talk to more, and approach them from a perspective of "I have this skillset and want to help out, what do you think I can do?", not "how can I talk people into letting me do fundraising for them?"
- Focus on your actual job and don't try to turn it into a different job. It sounds like the way to be involved in fundraising in the nonprofit sector is to get a job doing that. So if you've decided you don't want to do that, then get out of that line entirely, or you risk people at your real job thinking you're doing it badly and focusing on the wrong things.
posted by inkyz at 3:10 PM on October 14, 2016 [15 favorites]
So, like, I may be misunderstanding but from here it looks like your CSR program at work is a way to bribe charities to come to a lecture by you on the right way to do fundraising. But that seems like it's not going to be effective for two reasons: people who can find and apply for the CSR program on their own already demonstrate they know the basics of fundraising so may not feel like they need the lecture, and people who do want the lecture may not feel like you or your company is the place to get it - you may have just left it out, but I don't get the impression that community and corporate fundraising is central to your company's mission, or that you're a big-name expert in the fundraising field.
I think it's also maybe indicative that you're too tightly focused here that you don't seem to be listening to people - it sounds like a couple charities told you directly that the CSR program wasn't what they wanted, and your takeaway from that was the CSR program wasn't taking off because people were having trouble applying to it. I think maybe the biggest lesson to learn in the non-profit sector or business is you need to listen to your target audience - you have something you want from them (for them to listen to you and use your skillset), and you need to listen to what they want and need first to figure out how to get what you want.
Given all that, I would suggest:
- Keep your personal giving separate from everything else. If you want to support a charity, write them a check. If they abuse their donor list or harass you on the phone, tell them you're cutting them out. Don't try to cross-sell them to your other projects, just be a donor and write a check or don't.
- Talking to the one fundraising person was great - see if you can talk to more, and approach them from a perspective of "I have this skillset and want to help out, what do you think I can do?", not "how can I talk people into letting me do fundraising for them?"
- Focus on your actual job and don't try to turn it into a different job. It sounds like the way to be involved in fundraising in the nonprofit sector is to get a job doing that. So if you've decided you don't want to do that, then get out of that line entirely, or you risk people at your real job thinking you're doing it badly and focusing on the wrong things.
posted by inkyz at 3:10 PM on October 14, 2016 [15 favorites]
How have you gotten the word out about your CSR program? Do you know how many programs eligible for funding are situated in your catchment area (which is quite small)? Have you reached out to the most interesting programs individually to invite them to apply? Are your grants listed in the major fundraising databases? Do you go out to community meetings and present about the program? Does your staff know that they can recommend charities for funding (if they can)? I suspect a lot of your problem is publicity. If you're sure it's not publicity, I would think hard about whether you're attaching too many strings to what are very modest grant amounts.
On preview, listen to inkyz!
I'm in a different country, but am more or less in your target audience otherwise and I wouldn't apply for more than the £500 grant based on what you've written. Why would I send my staff to an un-proven, corporate-sponsored fundraising training for two days just to get a small grant? How do I have any idea that your corporation has anything worthwhile to say about non-profit fundraising from anyone but your corporation? Going to the training would lead staff to get behind on work needed to meet the goals of larger funders, plus, the money you're granting is barely going to cover the staff time spent at your training unless you're going WAY above your initial £500 offer (£100,000 or more, it becomes more reasonable to expect staff to spend time away from work for your grant).
Also, have you identified that groups actually need your input on fundraising? There are a lot of very good reasons not to have volunteers do fundraising - from not fully understanding how to frame the work for funders, not knowing enough about how to talk about the issues to maintain the charity's messaging/branding with the public, to an organization not wanting to share sensitive donor info with non-employees. Plus, someone would need to vet your work, and the whole process might wind up being longer and more onerous than just having their staff do it. I wouldn't take the charity's refusal of your offer to fundraise personally.
On the personal donation side, if you direct your personal donations to a small handful of groups that do great work, you can make a real difference for them and develop longer-term relationships that might lead to your serving on the board or in another formal advisory capacity. Once you have a strong relationship with the organization, you may be in a better place to share your fundraising or other skills with them and you'll know enough about the organization to do it in a way that will be helpful and not create additional work for their staff.
posted by snaw at 3:19 PM on October 14, 2016 [5 favorites]
On preview, listen to inkyz!
I'm in a different country, but am more or less in your target audience otherwise and I wouldn't apply for more than the £500 grant based on what you've written. Why would I send my staff to an un-proven, corporate-sponsored fundraising training for two days just to get a small grant? How do I have any idea that your corporation has anything worthwhile to say about non-profit fundraising from anyone but your corporation? Going to the training would lead staff to get behind on work needed to meet the goals of larger funders, plus, the money you're granting is barely going to cover the staff time spent at your training unless you're going WAY above your initial £500 offer (£100,000 or more, it becomes more reasonable to expect staff to spend time away from work for your grant).
Also, have you identified that groups actually need your input on fundraising? There are a lot of very good reasons not to have volunteers do fundraising - from not fully understanding how to frame the work for funders, not knowing enough about how to talk about the issues to maintain the charity's messaging/branding with the public, to an organization not wanting to share sensitive donor info with non-employees. Plus, someone would need to vet your work, and the whole process might wind up being longer and more onerous than just having their staff do it. I wouldn't take the charity's refusal of your offer to fundraise personally.
On the personal donation side, if you direct your personal donations to a small handful of groups that do great work, you can make a real difference for them and develop longer-term relationships that might lead to your serving on the board or in another formal advisory capacity. Once you have a strong relationship with the organization, you may be in a better place to share your fundraising or other skills with them and you'll know enough about the organization to do it in a way that will be helpful and not create additional work for their staff.
posted by snaw at 3:19 PM on October 14, 2016 [5 favorites]
I'm nthing inkyz's gret comment above. I also want to add that you should ask your local community foundation for advice. If you do decide to go the donor advise fund route they can do that but they're also a great resource for all the questions you asked. (Full disclosure: I work for a community foundation, since they have geographic focuses, you should talk to one in your area)
posted by entropyiswinning at 3:33 PM on October 14, 2016
posted by entropyiswinning at 3:33 PM on October 14, 2016
People don't want to come to your workshop, and the amount you are offering as a bribe to get them to come is not enough money to make them sit through it. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh or mean, but that appears to be what's going on here. People have full-time jobs and are busy, and they are only going to spend two full workdays on a workshop for a couple of reasons:
It's also a pretty gross tactic for you to be trying to use your own personal donations to compel people to participate in programs at your job. Not only is it unfair to the poor fundraising staff you're pitching, but it's also unfair to your bosses, who presumably don't know that you are trying to pay out of pocket to get people to participate in your work program. Stop doing that.
It's not really clear at all what your goal is. If your goal is to help charities you care about, find ones you trust, give them money, and trust that they'll do the right thing with it. You're not donating anywhere near enough money to demand a say in the operations of any reasonable sized non-profit.
If your goal is to advance at work, I think you need to leave your personal funds entirely out of it and focus on why people don't want what you're trying to offer them, and how you change what you're offering so that they'll want it. The problem is not that non-profits can't write a 500 word letter. Any non-profit that has ever raised money probably already has one. The problem is that they don't want to send you their 500 word letters because they are not interested in the package of money and requirements that you're offering to them.
posted by decathecting at 11:08 PM on October 14, 2016 [3 favorites]
- They are convinced that the workshop will teach them something they need to know, or that it will be incredibly fun and awesome. Several people have told you that this reason is not true for them, as they don't believe you when you tell them the workshop will be of value to them. You either need to get better at marketing the workshop so that people see it as valuable independent of the payment, change the workshop so that it actually is valuable or really fun, or eliminate it as a requirement.
- They are being paid to attend the workshop, and the amount they're being paid offsets the loss of valuable work time and energy that comes from spending two days in a workshop. Again, it appears that you're not offering enough money to actually serve as an effective bribe for a workshop that is in and of itself not viewed as valuable.
- They are being forced to go by someone who has the power to compel them. You do not have the power to compel them, and the amount you're paying is apparently not enough that their bosses are going to compel them.
It's also a pretty gross tactic for you to be trying to use your own personal donations to compel people to participate in programs at your job. Not only is it unfair to the poor fundraising staff you're pitching, but it's also unfair to your bosses, who presumably don't know that you are trying to pay out of pocket to get people to participate in your work program. Stop doing that.
It's not really clear at all what your goal is. If your goal is to help charities you care about, find ones you trust, give them money, and trust that they'll do the right thing with it. You're not donating anywhere near enough money to demand a say in the operations of any reasonable sized non-profit.
If your goal is to advance at work, I think you need to leave your personal funds entirely out of it and focus on why people don't want what you're trying to offer them, and how you change what you're offering so that they'll want it. The problem is not that non-profits can't write a 500 word letter. Any non-profit that has ever raised money probably already has one. The problem is that they don't want to send you their 500 word letters because they are not interested in the package of money and requirements that you're offering to them.
posted by decathecting at 11:08 PM on October 14, 2016 [3 favorites]
For many organizations, 500£ isn't worth the time to do the application, much less attend the workshop.
posted by k8t at 5:10 AM on October 15, 2016
posted by k8t at 5:10 AM on October 15, 2016
I work in charities in the UK, big national ones and small - hyperlocal ones. I'll say first, I'm really confused by what your question is, you're jumping around talking about your personal donations and volunteering, and your CSR programme and your professional work in a charity.
So, first up, boundaries are really important! You're mixing up your personal and professional contributions, for your own emotional well-being, and professional clarity you need to draw some lines between things.
Some thoughts:
- I'm sorry that the charity used your name in a way that you weren't happy with. Please complain if you haven't already. But signing a petition is very different action to donating money.
- It's little bits like that in your question that make me think that you maybe don't fully understand charities, despite your of involvement and your professional experience.
- How much do you network with fundraisers? Although some of the things that fundraising director said seem a little odd, I would seek out more people like her and meet for chats, or go to fundraising conferences and networking events, and join Twitter. There are lots of charity people on twitter talking to each other.
- Have you thought about becoming a trustee? Fundraising is part of their remit and it will help get more understanding of what charities need. You seem to have loads of skills that would be useful as a trustee.
- Managing volunteers needs resources, even skilled experienced volunteers. Organisations might need your skills, but they just don't have the capacity to support you. Which might be possibly what that fundraiser was trying to say to you rather clumsily.
- Organisations are usually good at knowing what they need, and asking for it. Listen to them and respond when they ask. This counts both for money and volunteer time and campaigning.
- Next time someone rings asking for money and they're not interested in you CSR programme, ask them what they need. And the next person, and the next. That's what your CSR programme should be.
- Someone out there will be grateful of you as a volunteer. Have you tried Reach? They match skilled volunteers to charities, they also help recruit trustees.
- In terms of your CSR programme, I work for a tiny local charity, if we are within 5 miles of you, we have written that letter. But there's no chance we could spare someone for two days unless you were offering a lot, lot more than £500, or something else amazing. We're all part time or volunteers, it takes 3 months lead in time for us to find 1/2 day for a team meeting...
- Sometimes things don't work, programmes fail, marketing doesn't reach the right people, relationships break down, jobs don't turn out to be what you expected.
If your question is what it is in the title, then, yes, it is OK to say no to philanthropy. Give what you can, emotionally, financially and professionally.
Thank you for everything you've done to help good causes (I mean that honestly and sincerely! I wish more local businesses would give us £500 off the back of a simple letter.)
posted by Helga-woo at 5:40 AM on October 15, 2016 [1 favorite]
So, first up, boundaries are really important! You're mixing up your personal and professional contributions, for your own emotional well-being, and professional clarity you need to draw some lines between things.
Some thoughts:
- I'm sorry that the charity used your name in a way that you weren't happy with. Please complain if you haven't already. But signing a petition is very different action to donating money.
- It's little bits like that in your question that make me think that you maybe don't fully understand charities, despite your of involvement and your professional experience.
- How much do you network with fundraisers? Although some of the things that fundraising director said seem a little odd, I would seek out more people like her and meet for chats, or go to fundraising conferences and networking events, and join Twitter. There are lots of charity people on twitter talking to each other.
- Have you thought about becoming a trustee? Fundraising is part of their remit and it will help get more understanding of what charities need. You seem to have loads of skills that would be useful as a trustee.
- Managing volunteers needs resources, even skilled experienced volunteers. Organisations might need your skills, but they just don't have the capacity to support you. Which might be possibly what that fundraiser was trying to say to you rather clumsily.
- Organisations are usually good at knowing what they need, and asking for it. Listen to them and respond when they ask. This counts both for money and volunteer time and campaigning.
- Next time someone rings asking for money and they're not interested in you CSR programme, ask them what they need. And the next person, and the next. That's what your CSR programme should be.
- Someone out there will be grateful of you as a volunteer. Have you tried Reach? They match skilled volunteers to charities, they also help recruit trustees.
- In terms of your CSR programme, I work for a tiny local charity, if we are within 5 miles of you, we have written that letter. But there's no chance we could spare someone for two days unless you were offering a lot, lot more than £500, or something else amazing. We're all part time or volunteers, it takes 3 months lead in time for us to find 1/2 day for a team meeting...
- Sometimes things don't work, programmes fail, marketing doesn't reach the right people, relationships break down, jobs don't turn out to be what you expected.
If your question is what it is in the title, then, yes, it is OK to say no to philanthropy. Give what you can, emotionally, financially and professionally.
Thank you for everything you've done to help good causes (I mean that honestly and sincerely! I wish more local businesses would give us £500 off the back of a simple letter.)
posted by Helga-woo at 5:40 AM on October 15, 2016 [1 favorite]
Another thing to note - depending on what your business does, you could perhaps donate something to auction fundraisers.
posted by k8t at 12:01 PM on October 15, 2016
posted by k8t at 12:01 PM on October 15, 2016
Hey OP, I'm not sure it's the answer for you, but wanting to be able to have a direct impact with your dollars at the rate your giving, you might want to find a local awesome foundation to be a part of. I'm part of the one here in Chicago. The Foundation gives out $1000 (or local equivalent) each month to projects that the group of 10 or so donors decide meet their criteria for "awesome". That tickles your donor desires, and your fundraising desires, and will put you into contact with a lot of small groups and organizations that might be happy for other fundraising tips and tricks.
posted by garlic at 10:38 AM on October 18, 2016
posted by garlic at 10:38 AM on October 18, 2016
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This thread is closed to new comments.
So, you have needy charities who are bugging you for money, and your own need to understand how to best share what you really have to offer that's worth much more. Could you effect an exchange? Get the most congenial people from these groups together at dinner or on a conference call (or talk to them individually if you must) and ask what, if anything, would make this more workable for them. You deserve their time; they've taken yours, and you are a good potential time investment.
Also: the workshop initiative you started sounds amazing. Could you make a shorter version of it -- maybe one day, or four half-days offered monthly -- and/or reframe it as a networking/opportunity to meet potential donors and volunteers? The reframing (or retitling) would maybe attract the people you want to attract by not seeming to be telling them things they "already know" (even though you really do know stuff).
I'm getting an idea here: if you partnered with someone who was really really good at marketing, you could fill in exactly the gaps you might have. Just find a couple of people you'd like to spend time with who are also smart and good at marketing, and have some delightful lunches (you should enjoy this, it sounds like you work hard enough already), and see if they have any interest in working on this with you.
Please forgive me if I've misunderstood the question.
posted by amtho at 1:18 PM on October 14, 2016