Harness More Fundraising Power with Volunteers

Recently, a volunteer from a dance troupe—we'll call him Kevin—called to invite my wife and me to an event. After opening the conversation with, "This is not your grandmother's ballet," Kevin went into a brief description of the event, explained why he thought I would like it, and shared a little about the work he'd done to help the troupe get to where it is today.

It was a nice chat. Kevin happily answered questions, provided detail I requested, and, without a lot of dazzle, made a simple case for how much he values the dance troupe. Swept along by his enthusiasm, I accepted his invitation.

I thought of that phone call as I prepared this article because, too often, nonprofit organizations fail to properly harness the fundraising power of people like Kevin. Some organizations seem to think fundraising is too important and complicated for volunteers; others fail to properly engage their volunteers at all. Certainly, some organizations do get their volunteers involved, but many do so without training, processes, and coordination, and, because of this, they fail to see the results they expect.

Some organizations seem to think fundraising is too important and complicated for volunteers; others fail to properly engage their volunteers at all.

The mistake many of these organizations make is assuming that volunteer engagement in fundraising is an option. It's not. No organization will reach its potential if it "leaves fundraising to the professionals" or fails to engage and equip its volunteers for success.

The good news is, it's really not that difficult to make volunteers a successful part of your fundraising. The better news is that once you do get volunteers onboard, they can drive real fundraising growth.

Harnessing Passion

Before we start looking at how you can more successfully engage volunteers in fundraising, let's take a moment to consider why you should. Really, there are a few simple reasons:

• Volunteers have passion. They're excited by what the organization does or they wouldn't volunteer. And, like anyone who's found something exciting, they're eager to talk about it and get others involved.
• Volunteers give more than money. They want to see the organization succeed, and they're willing to spend hours and hours to help make that happen.
• Volunteers want to chart the course for the organization's future. While this applies especially to board members, it also includes anyone who's willing to work with others in developing solutions to the average nonprofit's ever-growing list of challenges.
• Volunteers are great marketers and influencers. Like Kevin (my friend who volunteers on the board of the dance troupe), volunteers are happy to talk about the great things your organization is doing, and they'll reach out to friends, business colleagues, acquaintances, and others with whom they already have influence.

With all of these assets at your disposal, why wouldn't you tap into your volunteers? And why do we consistently hear stories about volunteers and board members struggling with fundraising?

The Dreaded Ask

Before discussing any tricks, strategies, or new tactics, let's acknowledge a big hurdle, the thing that takes less than a minute in conversations with potential donors but nonetheless dominates our apprehension: the dreaded ask.

Many people say that's what scares them most about fundraising. But, really, they're only being partly honest. Sure, the ask is frightening, but that's not the part that keeps volunteers awake at night, or that makes them want to crawl into their cars, go home, eat a bowl of ice cream, and wallow in sadness. No, what really trips up volunteers is what comes after the ask: the answer, which they fear will be no.

As large as it looms in our expectation, the ask is not what fundraising is about. It's a tiny part of a process that should focus far more on proper management of fundraising activities and simple strategies of cultivation and stewardship. Shift that focus and you'll worry less about the ask and ensure that your volunteers hear a lot less no and a lot more yes.

How To Help

Planning and organization are essential to fundraising success, especially when you're involving volunteers. Start this process with some steps that will help maximize volunteer involvement and help your organization achieve its revenue goals.

Create portfolios

Each volunteer should be assigned a portfolio of certain donors. The number of donors in a portfolio is not as important as the types of donors included. Each volunteer should oversee donors that meet the following criteria:

• The donor has potential to give to the organization above and beyond an average annual gift
• The donor and the volunteer have a potential "touchpoint" or connection beyond formalities
• The volunteer has the ability to develop and sustain a relationship over time

For donors meeting those criteria, the volunteer will be the main contact and the primary person responsible for cultivation and stewardship activities (see below).

Provide structure, support, and accountability

At each board meeting, set aside time for all volunteers to review their portfolios, discussing activities performed and raising concerns. This is a time for volunteers to work together to ensure the organization's proper message is conveyed to the donors through the volunteers and to prepare for any challenges that may arise. The focus is on cultivation and stewardship. If a volunteer hints that it might be time to ask a particular donor for support, he or she can test the ask with others and seek advice. This team-based approach will ensure that volunteers are not working alone but, rather, that they're working together to reach the organization's financial goals.

Document and share

It's important that someone—a staff member or volunteer—manages the portfolio system for everyone, ensuring that, after every meeting, comments are updated on a grid, Excel spreadsheet, or Word document. Once changes are made, the document is sent to all volunteers to remind them to advance their relationships with their portfolio donors before the next meeting.

Cultivation and Stewardship

The words "cultivation and stewardship" get thrown around a lot in fundraising, often with the assumption that everyone knows what they mean. Still, a lot of people don't really understand them. So let's address them briefly.

Cultivation is a set of activities to deepen a relationship with a donor in order to seek their support. Please note that we're not speaking only of financial support, but also of support through other resources, such as connections and in-kind advice/counsel. Cultivation activities might include, but not be limited to, personal meetings about the organization, working with the donor to develop a giving plan, invitations to events/programs, updating the donor on the organization's success and challenges and describing how the donor can be supportive, and using tailored communications to ensure that the donor is aware of the organization's current plans.

Stewardship is a process and series of activities and actions that reinforces a donor's decision to support an organization. Through ongoing relationship building and trust, volunteers keep donors informed of the impact of their gifts, the work of the organization, and opportunities to continue their involvement. Stewardship activities include, but are not limited to, visits to performances, events, or other programs to see how gifts have been used; opportunities to visit with performers, service providers, and others to see the action firsthand; special events and programs where supporters are thanked; and personal visits to hear about exciting new offerings and programs by the organization.

How Can You Help?

When we consider how volunteers can be more effective fundraisers, we realize that it comes down to a few simple things: how well they can harness their passion, share their stories, and focus on the great things the organization has planned for the future; how well they can explain and demonstrate their own ways of supporting the organization; and, finally, how well they can steward donors.

Or, in other words, how well they can look beyond the ask and forge a partnership with donors that delivers long-term benefits.

How can you help? Provide support and encouragement. Use a structured system that will track volunteers' progress. Create a team environment allowing volunteers to work together. Lastly, unleash your volunteers' passions and interests in helping the organization succeed by encouraging strong cultivation and stewardship practices.

Does it work?

Well, consider this: I opened this article with a brief story about an invitation to a dance troupe's event. My wife and I did go to the event. As I walked in the door, Kevin stepped away from the cluster of people he was talking with and greeted us. He introduced us to other volunteers, supporters who were like my wife and me. He gave us a brief tour of the facility on our way to our seats. At intermission, he was the first one to ask my thoughts. And he was right: It was not my grandmother's ballet.

At the end of the show, as I was walking out he said to me, "Derrick, I hope tonight you were able to see why the dance troupe is so important to me. As one of my valued friends, I felt it was important to share that with you. Now, with your permission, I'd like to call you later this week to talk about ways I think you could help us. Do you mind if I call you?"

Sure enough, in a few days, he did call. My wife and I now support that dance troupe in a number of ways.

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This article is adapted from The Voice, Fall 2009.